{"id":10130,"date":"2022-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isleutilities.com\/water-sector-needs-to-attract-young-talent-says-isles-alisha-syal\/"},"modified":"2024-08-27T09:25:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T08:25:36","slug":"water-sector-needs-to-attract-young-talent-says-isles-alisha-syal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.isleutilities.com\/it\/water-sector-needs-to-attract-young-talent-says-isles-alisha-syal\/","title":{"rendered":"Water sector needs to attract young talent says Isle\u00b4s Alisha Syal"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the UK water sector\u2019s \u2018rising stars\u2019 has called on the industry to find new ways to attract young talent in order to tackle urgent social and environmental challenges.<\/p>\n

That was the message of the latest Water Action Platform webinar from Isle – which sought to uncover the views of younger people coming into the water sector, delve into the challenges they face, as well as celebrate their achievements across the world.The event also featured interviews with Siddhartha Roy, an environmental engineer and research scientist who rose to prominence as a result of his work on the Flint water crisis, and Bob Taylor, chief executive of Portsmouth Water.<\/p>\n

This special edition of the webinar was hosted by Isle technology consultant Alisha Syal, one of the UK\u2019s Institute of Water\u2019s Rising Stars – an initiative designed to develop the skills and professional excellence of new industry talent. The water sector has \u201ctremendous potential to benefit society and the environment,\u201d she said, but has a reputation for being \u201cset in its ways.\u201d An injection of younger workers is needed to meet the complex challenges that lie ahead, she added.<\/p>\n

Facing the future<\/b><\/p>\n

An ageing workforce has been listed as one of the top ten issues facing the water sector today, according to American Water Works Association (AWWA) State of the Water Industry (SOTWI) Report in 2020. In addition, the US Environmental Protection Agency, states that in the next ten years it is projected that 37% of water utility workers and 31% of wastewater utility workers will retire. At present just 1.7% of workers in the US water sector are younger than 25, and in the UK just 8% of all water workers are under 24.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent generations can learn from each other and ultimately make better informed and forward- thinking decisions,\u201d said Syal. \u201cWhy is this important? Well, last year all around the world one-in-four people lacked safely-managed drinking water, and 3.6 billion people lacked safely-managed sanitation services, and 2.3 billion people lack basic hygiene services. \u201cNow, with added factors like population growth, we need to keep up with the ever-expanding need for sustainable water supply and sanitation,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s about collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leveraging youthful idealism<\/b><\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview, Roy discussed his own journey in the water sector, how he faced accusations of \u2018youthful idealism\u2019 and gave advice to young water professionals. \u201cSo many young people get into this field so that we can be of use to society and uphold their health and wellbeing \u2013 so to be accused of youthful idealism is bizarre. \u201cThe first tenet of civil engineering is to put the safety and welfare of the public at the heart. I think that\u2019s idealism at its best and what is we all should be striving for.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, as a graduate student at Virgina Tech, Roy played an instrumental role in uncovering the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. This public health crisis left tens of thousands of Flint residents exposed to dangerous levels of lead in their water supply and has become a signature case of environmental injustice.<\/p>\n

In his advice for younger water professionals, Roy impressed the importance of communications, and the need to be able to work with multiple stakeholders, as well as being willing to gain knowledge across many different fields.The three key takeaways he wanted younger water workers to consider were:<\/p>\n