By KENDRA PIERRE-LOUIS, Bloomberg (Printed Seattle Times Jan 15, 2025)
Shannan Walton was at a conference in Utah for water workers — the often-invisible employees who ensure Americans have clean tap water and working sewer systems — when she found herself seated next to a 90-year-old gentleman.
“I thought, ‘Oh how nice, they’re inviting a retiree to still participate and be involved,’” said Walton, who runs workforce development for the National Rural Water Association, a nonprofit that trains and supports industry professionals in small communities across the U.S. But as the conversation progressed, she learned he was still working.
“He was 90 years old and still performing the duties because of the challenge of finding someone else to step up,” said Walton.
The nonagenarian Walton encountered is the extreme end of a much larger trend. Nationwide, many of the roughly 1.7 million people employed in the water sector have hit or are nearing retirement age. In total, between 30% and 50% of the workforce will retire in the next decade, and there aren’t enough younger workers in the pipeline to replace them. A Brookings Institution analysis of 2021 data found that 88% of treatment plant operators were aged 45 or older, compared with 45% nationally.