Nice drinking water you got there, if you can keep it. My story about how water (drinking and waste water) are losing workers right when because of climate change we need them most. Gift link.
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It was almost cheerful! Thank you! It sure seems like good marketing could funnel people in to these much needed jobs. Also, full disclosure, my dad was a water meter reader for 30 years, so the water dept is close to my heart (and I grew up hearing how important it is)
My dad didn’t even have that, but he was fortunate enough to get into an apprenticeship program at age 16. It was enough to sustain a 50plus year career and a family of 8.
The initial design and periodic refitting plans are the most engineering intensive parts - a lot of the rest of it is monitoring, keeping water quality parameters within various ranges, responding to massive rainfall events, etc. It requires thinking and reading, but no degrees.
With the diminished strength of quality unions.(not the ones that pretend and are in the back pockets of politicians) it’s going to be very hard to recruit young people when the cost of living is damn near unaffordable. We need investment in our infrastructure.
Great article! Similar challenges in the energy field. Here in California there are some big efforts going and more starting up to train workers for energy efficiency and electrification jobs, including people in rural communities, women, and others not traditionally welcomed into the field.
My dad used to work for a city water service testing the water. He had no previous experience doing that work (he was a plumber and pipe fitter by trade), had a high school education and just learned on the job by emailing other people doing the same job around the country and asking questions.
utilities across the country are in need of skilled workers. our efforts over the last decade and into the next are focused on adding diverse, creative, qualified talent to our workforce to grow that next generation.
utility jobs offer benefits, service, and purpose.
I should prolly shup being an ex- water rat grad (Environmental Technologist with a pref for water srudies).... trying to avoid nasty wishful political statements re: Jan 20th
Some of these trades relied on nepotism, they should look at community colleges to build programs and recruit from. I’m an old printer, and our industry was very nepotistic.
No one wants their kid to be a tradesman anymore, largely because we denigrated all the essential jobs so we could pay the idiots in charge 400-600 times what an average worker makes
Okay, there is one municipality in Chicagoland that makes all the public works employees get CDLs so that they can get tapped to drive a gd snowplow if needed. Come the fuck on.
I’m a CalWater customer. Their general manager says that filling the jobs in expensive coastal CA is the most difficult. Younger workers will do it knowing that, when they want to buy a home & raise kids, they will transfer to a cheaper part of inland CA served by CalWater. He’s constantly hiring
I took a group of first-year college students to the wastewater treatment plant this yr: they are desperately trying to get young people interested! It’s at the front-line of public health. This will be my rallying cry next term when I teach a class on water rights. Not sexy but critical.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkerton_E._coli_outbreak
utility jobs offer benefits, service, and purpose.