Sneed: The water industry might be the best career you’ve never considered

Technology has long been at the center of the workforce universe here in Silicon Valley. It certainly was for me back in the days of the dot-com bubble. I was at San Jose State University and fully expecting to join one of the local tech outfits. But the local water utility where my father worked was hiring student interns to help plug staffing gaps during a potential merger, so I signed up for some undergrad work experience. That merger fell through and that dot-com bubble burst, but I discovered my path.

After graduating, I applied to a full-time operations position with the utility and I remember being asked in that interview, “Why are you choosing water?” I just answered honestly: “Well, I can help produce another microchip for some company. Or I can help supply clean water for the community I actually live in. What’s more important than water?”

That’s a question the industry is increasingly hoping the next generation will ask, too.

A hidden gem

Working in the water industry offers competitive wages, strong benefits, job security and genuine community impact — all wrapped in jobs that most career counselors never mention.

Even here, where the cost of living has made many salaries feel inadequate, I’m living proof that you can build a great career in water with or without a degree. A person can become a licensed water operator or treatment plant operator with a couple of straightforward state certifications and earn upward of six figures.

And it’s not just the money. Water industry work is important, interesting and spans a surprising range of disciplines suited to diverse talents: SCADA systems and engineering; environmental science and watershed management; regulatory compliance and legal affairs; finance and strategic planning; cybersecurity and logistics and community relations and emergency management. It’s multifaceted and always meaningful.

But it isn’t the most high-visibility line of work, and that can make it difficult to appeal to new recruits.

Generation gap

Nationwide, the water industry has some workforce pipeline issues — roughly a third of its workforce is over the age of 55 and less than 5% is under the age of 25.

We need a new generation of stewards to keep our water systems healthy. And we need them to begin their water careers before all that existing institutional knowledge walks out the door and into retirement. The transfer of knowledge that comes from the shared experience of new talent working with seasoned pros on something as complex as water systems is hard to describe, but it is priceless. We have to cultivate that in our workforce.

My hope is that we can forge stronger water industry pathways at career fairs in colleges and trade schools, but also in experiences that leave an impression of just how rewarding and important this work is. Internships or summer hire programs that allow students to work side-by-side with water crews in the field might draw many of them back to the industry after graduation. Not because they were sold on a PowerPoint or because it’s an occupation unlikely to be taken over by AI, but because they remember what it felt like to be out on the trucks or working in the watershed. Helping real people. Doing meaningful work in their own community.

Once you’re experienced it, it has a way of becoming the most interesting job you can imagine.

Colby Sneed is vice president of operations for San Jose Water.