As Australia’s infrastructure demands surge, the water sector is struggling to attract enough skilled engineers – a challenge one leading water professional is tackling head-on by raising the profile of water careers and skilling up the next generation to meet complex, cross-disciplinary demands.
One of the founding partners of Careers in Water, University of Sydney Head of School of Civil Engineering Professor Stuart Khan said the skills gap in the water sector is clearly urgent, but the shortage of engineers exists across the board, and it’s driving competition.
"We need engineers to provide infrastructure and services to support new developments. People think very quickly about roads and houses, then schools, hospitals and public transport,” he said.
“It usually takes a little longer before everyone realises that sewage and drinking water services are absolutely fundamental – and we can’t proceed with building new development areas until we have those in place.
“Water also has the problem that, within engineering, the sector has to compete with other industries that pay big bucks. It might not be the greatest lifestyle – fly-in, fly-out – but if you're looking for a quick, big salary, the mining sector might be a more attractive option.”
Furthermore, other areas of engineering are much more visible than water, Khan said, an issue he is hoping to solve at the University of Sydney with a new course he is developing to expose students to engineering within the water sector.
“When I arrived at the University of Sydney in 2023, it was very obvious that water as a sector is largely invisible within the civil engineering degree here. We teach hydraulics and hydrology – we teach a lot of fundamentals, lots of equations about water,” he said.
“But there’s no real visibility of what water engineers actually do – where they work and what they work on. Nowhere across the university is training people for the drinking water component of the sector.
“We have access to hundreds of skilled engineers that are about to enter the jobs market every year. There’s an obvious opportunity to open their minds to another sector where they could work.”
The next generation of water professionals will need new skills to tackle the challenges ahead, with a variety of leading global transitions directly connected to water. Khan said the water community can leverage this to attract talent.
“There are lots of new challenges – things engineers didn’t necessarily think about decades ago. Circular economy, environmental sustainability, digital transformation, big data, machine learning – AI is going to permeate every industry, including water,” Khan said.
“Then there’s how the sector contributes to Australia’s ambitions for net zero emissions. That’ll mean new technical solutions for more energy-efficient processes and fewer fugitive emissions. And the water sector has a lot of fugitive emissions to manage – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide.
“There’s a lot of work to be done. So, rethinking and redesigning technologies that were novel 50 years ago and are now widespread – many need to be redone in a carbon-efficient, low-emissions way.”
Khan said there is also a lot of creativity and renewal required: “It’s not simply turning up, learning how it’s always been done, and repeating it. There’s a lot of innovation needed and people who bring that will be sought after across different areas of the sector”.
Creative thinking and innovation are skills that will be increasingly emphasised. Also, things like understanding the economics and business cases – that’s hugely important in the water sector.
"People who can speak transdisciplinary – who can get into economics, law, social and community engagement – all that is extremely valuable. We’ll need more people with those broader, cross-disciplinary skills.”
Given misconceptions around water not being a particularly sexy place to work, Khan said it's important to showcase the variety and interest of working in water, including the upside of the water community itself.
“There are really fantastic careers in water. We have a very cohesive sector. It’s actually a happy sector. People collaborate, they know each other, and they move – they move between working for a variety of different organisations,” he said.
"That intrasector mobility is valuable in itself. It makes for a fulfilling career and a well-rounded person.”
Khan said that career mobility, both sideways and vertically, is an important characteristic of the sector.
“And people do get promoted within the water sector. They work their way up to senior leadership roles. And those senior leadership roles are as well paid as any other comparable engineering job," he said.
Universities are an important place to inspire the next generation of engineers, Khan said, and provide a great place for water organisations to tap the latest talent.
“There are many avenues for this. Academic supervisors love to collaborate with industry on thesis projects, especially when a good student is willing to invest some time. With all undergraduate engineering degrees now being honours degrees, there are always opportunities to engage through thesis projects,” he said.
“ Universities also have increasingly well-organised and career-focused student societies. We have one here in civil engineering at Sydney called SUCE – Sydney Uni Civil Engineers. They organise highly professional industry careers nights and have a significant focus on industry engagement generally.
“Students really take the opportunity to talk to all the employers that attend, and learn about what they’re doing. I’ve seen several participants from the water sector at these industry events. They know it’s an opportunity to find the top students.”
Khan said nobody recognises the skills shortage more than the sector itself: “Engineering companies are knocking on my door all the time, asking: How can we engage with graduating civil engineering students?”
Interested in finding out more about Careers in Water? Learn more here.