Water Sector Structure, Size, and Demographics

Abstract

Although the water sector (or water industry) is vital to the United States, national reporting systems do not include its economic or employment statistics. These would help policy makers and the public understand the strategic importance of the industry in terms of employment, revenues, and impact. To bridge this gap, the paper explains the water sector’s structure, size, and demographic characteristics. The water sector’s revenues are about 1% of gross domestic product. The sector includes about 150,000 water, wastewater, and storm water organizations; federal water offices at the national, regional, and state levels belonging to several agencies; some 100 state water agency organizations; and many other local government water organizations. Adding support sector establishments to this list leads to an estimate that some 1,000,000 employees work in the water sector. In spite of trends experienced by the sector, its size will not change much; revenues will be level, although unit costs may rise. The employee count will not increase, but the sector’s workforce demographics will shift, and the water industry must address erosion of its knowledge base with loss of employees.