The State of the Industry (SOTI) survey, now in its
fourth year, has compiled a wealth of trending data on
the water industry. These data, reflecting input from
utility representatives, service providers, and other professionals
across the United States and Canada, help illuminate
the water industry's current and future concerns.
The 2007 survey results indicated that the industry
workforce and the sustainability of its human resources
was a prime concern for many respondents. Although
the workforce had already established a profile as a
long-term concern, this year the category rose to the
fifth spot on the list of near-term critical issues.
By highlighting current and emerging concerns as
well as inadequately addressed issues, the SOTI survey
helps ensure that water professionals have the
tools and strategies they need in order to meet the
challenges ahead. The top five critical issues identified by the survey include: regulatory factors including concerns about the scientific
basis for new regulations and
the value of new regulations relative
to their cost; source water supply and protection centering on ensuring adequate quantities
of treatable water supplies for
growing needs and protecting water
sources; business factors such as the expense and financing
of infrastructure replacement and
the imbalance between the cost of
delivering quality water service and
the rates that can be charged; aging water supply infrastructure, the prospect of its failure, cross-connection concerns, water
leakage and accounting, and water
storage; and, workforce issues such as replacement
of aging workers, difficulty in
recruiting qualified new or replacement
workers, and overall training
of the workforce to meet increasing
sophistication in water operations. Includes tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. 99 - No. 10 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 1.3 MB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 11 |
| Published : | 10/01/2007 |
