Water Equation celebrates growth during 10th anniversary

A decade ago, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) launched Water Equation (WE) as a philanthropic initiative to generate funding for the water sector’s workforce, education for small systems, and other programs. Since then, with generous backing from thousands of individual and organizational supporters, WE’s annual donation revenue has grown from $60,000 to more than $523,000 in 2023.

Along the way, WE has expanded its outreach and fundraising opportunities to include events such as the WE Race for Water, WE Walk and WE Golf Tournament. AWWA sections are enthusiastic supporters of WE and hold a variety of creative and entertaining fundraising events each year.

To accommodate new opportunities and needs, WE has extended its support to initiatives such as the Transformative Water Leadership Academy and Community Engineering Corps. (Pictured from left, a WE scholarship presentation, travel scholarship recipient KatieMae Apatiki)

“WE is committed to fulfilling the critical need to ensure that the water sector has the necessary workforce to provide clean and safe water to communities in North America,” said Michelle Hektor, who oversees WE as AWWA’s senior manager of development and donor relations.

“We’re really looking at entry-level, mid-level career, under 35 water professionals, and how we can retain them in the water industry,” she added. “If we can do that by helping them attend one of our leadership programs, then that’s what we’re going to do.”

Recipients benefit from growth opportunities

In 2023, WE funded 50 One AWWA Operator Scholarships. WE also managed an additional 28 Academic Scholarships, including these five AWWA research scholarships:

• Abel Wolman Fellowship
• Larson Aquatic Research Support Scholarships (two recipients)
• Dr. Philip C. Singer Scholarship
• Dr. James K. Edzwald Endowed Scholarship

In 2024, WE funded the opportunity for five students to go to AWWA Fly-In in Washington, D.C., where they attended issue briefings and congressional visits with section leaders. WE also sent two One AWWA Operator Scholarship recipients to AWWA’s Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) in Anaheim, California.

“It’s really special to see them at their first ACE and how overwhelmed they are, but how appreciative they are and how much they’re learning and meeting people,” Hektor said. “(Scholarship recipient) Justin Shaffer is from a small town in Indiana. It is him and one other person. That’s it. It’s a small system. He was lucky to come to ACE and then to be awarded. He was overwhelmed by it. It was really wonderful.”

Hektor tracks the scholarship recipients’ career paths. “Since 2017, we have a 98% retention rate in the water sector, which I think is phenomenal,” she said. “If they get opportunities, they’ll stick with us.”

Reaching future water professionals

Over the next decade, Hektor wants WE’s programs to reach more high school students. “Fifty percent of high school kids aren’t going to college, so we need to reach them in high school,” she said. “I’d love to see us build it that way.”

For example, WE helped fund high school student KatieMae Apatiki’s 12-hour trip from Gambell, Alaska, to Golden, Colorado, to represent her state in the national competition for the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize, a prestigious award for high school-level water science projects.

Those interested can make a one-time donation to Water Equation here. If you’d like to volunteer to read and rank academic scholarship applications in January 2025, please contact scholarships@awwa.org.