Young Professionals Summit
March 22-24, 2026
Charlotte, NC
Young Professionals Summit
Future Water Leaders: Turbocharge Your Career Path
The WEF/AWWA Young Professionals (YP) Summit is the premier water and wastewater industry workshop for young professionals. Join other young leaders by exploring your role in water and discussing how you can best serve the water sector at large. This skills development workshop provides supplemental training and networking opportunities to emerging leaders and students in the water sector. This year’s event will focus on developing awareness of evolving water sector challenges and opportunities, and build skills specific to emerging leaders in the industry.
Hosted by the Water Environment Federation and the American Water Works Association, this event will allow attendees to:
- Foster meaningful peer connections that support career growth and advance the future of the water sector.
- Develop interpersonal and leadership skills within the context of the water and wastewater industry.
- Broaden understanding of the water sector through increased awareness of industry roles, challenges, and opportunities.
- Discuss emerging challenges and identify how these may impact their goals.
- Recognize the skills they have and the ones they might need to develop further as future leaders.
- Explore trending workforce issues and how those offer opportunities for growth.
- Learn from peers and current water leaders the value of their perspectives as young professionals.
- Engage with hands-on water and wastewater tools and approaches in a team-setting to expand practical knowledge and build lasting peer-to-peer support networks.
Registration will open January 6, 2026.
Join us in 2026
The 2026 YP Summit will be hosted by WEF. Please visit WEF’s Student & YP page for continued updates.
2026 Dates & Location:
March 22 – 24, 2026
Charlotte Convention Center
Charlotte, North Carolina
Who Attends The YP Summit?
Early-career water professionals eager to transform the future of water
Students in engineering, environmental science, business, communications, and other disciplines prominent in the water sector
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Invest in the Future of Water
Become a Sponsor in 2026
The annual Young Professionals Summit is an unparalleled opportunity to connect directly with the next generation of water leaders and convey your thought leadership and industry foresight.
Contact Us
We would love to hear from you!
Quick Links
YP Utility Scholarships
WEF and AWWA will both be providing scholarships to utility representatives attending. If you have questions, please contact Mary Svoboda at yp@awwa.org.
AWWA YP Utility Scholarship Winners
Water Equation (WE), AWWA’s philanthropy supports the future of the water industry by investing in the water workforce through scholarships, leadership programs, and volunteer engineering opportunities.
Jenna Arsenault
Operations Supervisor
Parks Canada
British Columbia
Dom Bennett
Assistant Director of Customer Care
City of Lee’s Summit (Water Utilities Department)
Missouri
Kayla Sanon
Admin. Technician, Senior
City of Richmond — Dept. of Public Utilities
Virginia
Marina Shenoda
Principal Engineer
City of Newark — Water & Sewer Department
New Jersey
Misty Smith
Executive Assistant
Immokalee Water and Sewer District
Florida
AWWA HBCU Scholarship Winners
Cescar Kangogo
Masters in Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Tennessee State University
Carolyne Njeri
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Tennessee State University
MD Al Sadikul Islam
Civil Engineering
University of the District of Columbia
WEF YP Utility Scholarship Winners
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) awards five scholarships to young professionals (YPs) working for a utility in North America. The YP Utility Scholarship program helps YPs learn about what being part of the WEF Utility Management Community (UMC) entails and increases YP involvement within this community.
Andrea Andino
City of Hialeah Public Works Department
Florida
Jayla Berry
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
North Carolina
Jordan Lewis
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
North Carolina
Daniel Roberts
Trinity River Authority of Texas
Texas
Kayson Smith-Bejgrowicz
Aqua Engineers
Hawaii
Thank You to Our 2025 Sponsors
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“Attending YP Summit 2024 was an absolute blast, from teaming up for the Water Circuit Challenge to making friends in the water industry and expanding my network. With leadership training, water facility tour, and city exploration, it was the perfect mix of learning and fun—I highly recommend it for anyone looking to grow professionally and make lasting connections!”
June Kouet
Engineering Intern, Four Waters Engineering, Inc.
“Getting these connections is priceless. Meeting people my age in the industry, doing similar but different things across the U.S. Some of the people I met at my first YP Summit are my best friend to this day!”
Renee Lanza, P.E.
Senior Consultant, GEI
“The past two YP Summits I have attended have been a great opportunity to meet other water industry young professionals and to learn more about parts of the industry I might not otherwise have known about.”
Malia Turner
Hazen and Sawyer
“I enjoyed learning about professional development plans—how to close identify skills gaps and hone in on which skills you want to grow. There are so many different aspects of engineering in the water industry; sometimes you don’t know where you need to grow until someone tells you, or coaches you.”
Natalie Thompson
Principal Engineer, Hazen & Sawyer
“I had more fun, learned more, felt more engaged, and felt more welcome at the last YP Summit more than any conference I’ve ever attended. It is hands down the best conference you can attend as a young water professional, both professionally and personally.”
Brie Peterson
Technical Sales Tonka Water, a Kurita brand
“I met so many young professionals! I enjoy talking to more people, getting to hear how their organizations work. In sessions we touched on some vulnerable topics like imposter syndrome—which everyone faces, and it’s completely OK. It was good to hear that.”
Bhar Murali
Project Manager for Water Engineering and Reliability, Region of Peel, Ontario, Canada
Resources for Young Professional from AWWA
We invite you to explore the wide range of relevant resources available from AWWA.
The Water Workforce: Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining High-Performance Employees
The most important resources at any utility are human resources. People make all the difference in the success or failure of your utility’s operation. Managing utility workforce issues is the focus of this practical handbook for water utility human resources employees.
Get the Book
State of the Water Industry
Since 2004, AWWA has published the annual State of the Water Industry Report based on survey results to help water utilities, service providers, regulators and researchers identify and prepare for challenges, opportunities, and trends impacting the water community.
State of the Water Industry
Plain Talk About Drinking Water, Sixth Edition
The first edition of this book was published more than 30 years ago. The goal of that book was to provide explanations for some of the questions that surround drinking water. Where does my tap water come from? How is it treated? Why does ice float? And to explain these things and more, in simple but factual language—using “plain talk.”
Read More
The Water Dictionary Handbook
Developed specifically for water and wastewater professionals, this unique dictionary has more than 15,000 definitions for water-related words, phrases, and acronyms.
Read More
Communicating Water’s Value: Talking Points, Tips & Strategies
This book offers tips and tools to assist management, communications staff, and employees at both small and large utilities in shaping customers’ understanding about the value of water.
Get the Book
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2025 Facility Tour
