Water industry needs employees

FALLBROOK – In the next five to 10 years, the Fallbrook Public Utility District will see a substantial number of employee retirements, and with those retirements come job openings.

There are currently 11 employees eligible for retirement, which amounts to about 17 percent of the district’s workforce.

While the idea of job openings wouldn’t normally sound like a problem, there is one issue – people just aren’t getting into the water industry the way they used to. For FPUD’s last few job recruitments for higher-level, skilled jobs, the district received fewer than five applications.

There is currently an opening for a senior accountant position. It is posted at http://www.fpud.com.

Across the country and throughout the state of California, more skilled and educated employees are going to be needed in the next decade as a wave of people retire. And the job openings span from engineering to utility field workers, accountants, biologists, customer service representatives, construction and upper-level management.

Local colleges offer training, certificate and degree programs to prepare people for the broad and complex issues facing water agencies today. These issues include water treatment, waste and stormwater recycling, watershed planning and increased environmental regulations.

Palomar College in San Marcos offers an associate degree for training and qualifying operators to run facilities. They provide pre-employment training as well as advanced courses in water and wastewater technology. More information can be found on the college website: www2.palomar.edu/pages/watertech/.

Cuyamaca College in El Cajon also offers an associate degrees and provides training for those with no water or wastewater industry experience. Cuyamaca College also offers advanced certificate programs for those already in the water industry seeking career advancement. More information is available at http://www.cuyamaca.edu/academics/departments/wwtr/default.aspx.

California State University San Marcos offers water management certificate programs. Visit http://www.csusm.edu/el/water for more information.

Submitted by the Fallbrook Public Utility District.