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With many water workers nearing retirement, utilities seek a younger workforce

Oct 18, 2023
In Texas, for instance, a new law licenses high school students for jobs monitoring and treating drinking water and wastewater.
The water workforce problem has led utilities to recruit young people for training in water and wastewater management.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

Water-short cities in the West want to use every drop, even from sewage

Aug 23, 2023
Direct potable reuse technology, which lets cities pump treated wastewater back into pipes, is picking up steam from Colorado to California.
A flask of purified recycled water after a demonstration in Carson, California.
Alex Hager/KUNC

To make the most of a new Ford electric truck plant, Tennessee neighbors need sewer help

Dec 21, 2022
Ford needed a sewer line to build its $5.6 billion plant in Tennessee. But neighboring communities now have to build their own wastewater system to accommodate new residents who come for the new plant jobs.
The town of Mason has its own utility system including water and sewer. Utilities have been the most difficult hurdle to overcome in developing the West Tennessee megasite.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News