We Need to Address the Thin Blue Line in the Water Sector to Overcome the Sector’s Big Challenges

By Mark Coates FCIHT, FCInstCES, VP, Infrastructure Policy Advancement, Bentley Systems and immediate past chair of British Water’s U.K. Forum.

The term “the thin blue line” was coined to highlight how police forces act as a narrow layer to preserve law and order and prevent chaos in society. Usage of the term caught on in 1922 after New York City Police Commissioner Richard Enright said it to highlight the importance of the police during a public relations effort.

Isn’t it time we started adopting the terminology of the thin blue line to highlight how important those working in the water sector are to our society?

As David Suzuki, the Canadian biologist, naturalist, and broadcaster, said, “Water is our most precious resource, but we waste it, just as we waste other resources.” It is fair to say that, without the skill and dedication of those working in the water sector to deliver high-quality drinking water, civil society would also descend into chaos.

More should be done to acknowledge and celebrate those working with water, because the thin blue line in the water sector keeps getting narrower. Yet society has never needed our thin blue line more than now.

THE CHALLENGES WE FACE

The recent Workforce Renewal and Skills Strategy: Workforce Resilience report by Energy & Utility Skills highlights how the water sector is grappling with the multiple challenges, including achieving net-zero operational emissions by 2030 and fulfilling the requirements of the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) 2023.

The sector is also gearing up for substantial growth and change with the GBP 96 billion PR24 water and sewage system upgrade programme, and the U.K. government committing GBP 56 billion to water companies between 2025 and 2050 for upgrades that will reduce spills from combined sewer overflows.

At the same time, the water sector is experiencing increasing overall demand from a growing population while navigating more frequent extreme weather events, including more instances of flooding from intense rainfall and more frequent water shortages.

Against this backdrop, the workforce in our industry is ageing, and competition for vital skills from other sectors is becoming more intense. Just 8% of the industry’s workforce is currently under the age of 24, and more than a fifth are less than a decade away from retirement age.

Meanwhile, The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board reported that contractors working in water treatment saw their workforce decline by almost one-fifth during the pandemic–more than any other engineering construction industry (ECI) sector– according to the ECITB’s Workforce Census.

Between 2019 and 2021, the water sector lost 21% of its headcount, according to data gathered from 24 ECITB-registered companies working across the water treatment sector. The ECITB indicated that a major workforce challenge awaits the sector in the coming years, with 48% of the contractor workforce over 50 years old. Therefore, these workers are less than 16 years away from pensionable age, although many are likely to retire sooner.

WHERE WE NEED MORE SKILLED WORKERS

In March 2023, Energy & Utility Skills produced a “horizon scan” of the issues likely to affect the water sector’s workforce over the coming years, which identified five skills disciplines to focus on.

Following discussion with a specially convened group of employer representatives from the water industry, it was agreed that Energy & Utility Skills should focus on three key disciplines: nature-based solutions, net zero and bioresources, and artificial intelligence, data, and digital skills. The water sector is particularly struggling to attract workers in these disciplines.

Research from Energy & Utility Skills found there were 31,000 enrolled in IT and computing courses, 29,300 in physical and environmental courses, 28,900 in engineering courses, 11,400 in maths courses, and just 180 in agricultural/land courses.

In the 2019/2020 school year, there were 36,220 graduates from these same subject areas with at least a third class/honours pass on a first-degree course. Of these, 23,880 were employed 15 months after completing their studies, but just 130 (0.5%) work in the water industry.

The Energy & Utility Skills report highlights that widening the resourcing net to successfully attract candidates from all communities and backgrounds will be essential to securing the required capacity and capability. Women account for 33% of the whole water workforce, with many of these concentrated in admin and customer facing roles, which are prime targets for automation in the short to medium-term. Meanwhile, just 4% of the craft workforce are female, and minorities account for just 7% of workforce, compared to 13% across the population as a whole.

SOLUTIONS

The Energy & Utility Skills report highlights some potential solutions to tackling the workforce resilience challenges we face. The report suggests that:

• Employers in the water sector should commit to achieving 5% of their workforce on an apprenticeship. However, this is likely to be more of a challenge for supply chain partners, particularly Tier 2 suppliers.
• The importance of employers providing work placement and practical experiences while studying is well evidenced and should be promoted across the industry. Such an approach might consist of a short summer university programme, consisting of expert lectures by employees and external specialists, as well as tours of sites.
• There is a strong need to develop technical standards in certain disciplines, particularly in nature-based solutions.
• Some students opt for a placement year and base their dissertation on it, which can also work well for water companies. There is potential for more partnerships between water companies and universities.

For bringing on the next generation of artificial intelligence, data, and digital talent, the report states that the sector requires a paradigm shift in terms of mindset and processes to embrace collaboration, educate employees on digital advancement initiatives, and ensure that the commitment and ownership for digital advancement moves from senior management to middle management and the operational workforce.

To attract and retain talent into the water industry, the report also highlights how the digital and data workforce can be celebrated.

In the United States, the Utilities Analytics Institute grants annual awards including best innovative utility analytics team, best utility analytics leader, and best community engagement.

I believe more could be done to showcase emerging talent in all three key sectors cited by Energy & Utility Skills, including naturebased solutions, net zero, and bioresources and data and digital skills. We could acknowledge and celebrate newcomers and apprentices in these sectors, as well as emerging talent such as the top 30 under 30 years of age and the top 40 under 40 years of age.

Industry and company purpose are also becoming increasingly important for attracting candidates. Our sector offers people a career with incredible purpose–to help us reach net zero and implement nature-based solutions to better manage the world’s most precious resource and tackle the impact of climate change.

It’s time we do more to acknowledge the important work people do in our sector, and the sense of purpose we offer, to help make the thin blue line richer, deeper, and more resilient.