Should Stridham Ratepayers Fund a Water Workforce Academy?

Resolution. Resolved: The fictional state of Stridham should fund a statewide water workforce academy through a monthly surcharge on every water and sewer account in the state.

Background. Stridham is a fictional state with 620 community water systems, most of them small. In a fictional state survey last year, 41 percent of those systems reported at least one licensed operator position open longer than six months. The fictional Merrindale Water District, which serves about 900 people, has one licensed operator who plans to retire in two years and no one in line to replace him.

The proposed academy would run a paid pre-apprenticeship, pay exam fees, and place trainees with host utilities for supervised experience. The bill in front of the fictional legislature would fund it with a surcharge of $0.75 a month on each of the state's 1.1 million water and sewer accounts, which would raise about $9,900,000 a year. Systems would not be required to send anyone, and graduates would not be required to stay.

Nationally, the pressures behind the bill are documented. About 10,000 openings a year are projected from 2025 to 2035 for water and wastewater operators specifically, all of them from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations. Roughly one-third of the water workforce becomes retirement-eligible within the next decade, and in 2016 only about 10 percent of water workers were 24 or younger, compared with 12.5 percent of all U.S. workers. At the same time, household water bills have been climbing faster than inflation.

Roles. Two teams of three debate. Three students judge and score from the rubric, one moderates and keeps time, and the rest of the class writes ballots with reasons. Format: a four-minute constructive from each team, three minutes of cross-examination each way, two minutes of preparation time per team, a three-minute rebuttal each, and a two-minute closing each. The affirmative speaks first and last.

Case for the surcharge

1. The vacancies are concentrated where systems are smallest. In the fictional Stridham survey, 41 percent of the state's 620 systems reported a licensed operator position open more than six months, and the fictional Merrindale district's single operator retires in two years. Source: fictional state survey written for this kit.
2. The national pipeline problem is documented and specific to this occupation. About 10,000 openings a year are projected from 2025 to 2035 for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, all of them from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations, since total employment is projected to decline 6 percent rather than grow. Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
3. The age structure explains why the vacancies keep coming. Roughly one-third of the water workforce becomes retirement-eligible within the next decade, and in 2016 only about 10 percent of water workers were 24 or younger, compared with 12.5 percent of all U.S. workers. Source: EPA Water Infrastructure Sector Workforce page and Brookings, Renewing the Water Workforce (2018).
4. Training is a fixed cost that a small system cannot carry alone. Licensure requires exam preparation plus supervised experience, and license classes are tied to plant size, so a system with two employees cannot run its own program. A shared academy spreads that cost across the state. Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and state certification program requirements.
5. The surcharge is small per household and falls on the people who receive the service. At $0.75 a month, the charge is under $10 a year per account in this fictional proposal, and every account depends on someone holding the license that keeps the system operating legally. Source: the fictional bill's fiscal note.
6. The path this academy opens does not require a four-year degree. Operators earned a median $60,020 in May 2025, with the highest-paid 10 percent earning more than $91,060, entering through a high school diploma, on-the-job training, and a state license. Certificate and degree routes remain open alongside it. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
7. Systems without a licensed operator do not save money; they hire contract operators at short notice or face enforcement, and both cost ratepayers. Source: fictional testimony from the Stridham rural systems association.

Case against the surcharge

1. Water bills are already outpacing inflation. Combined US water and sewer bills rose about 24 percent from 2019 to 2024 and about 5.1 percent in 2025. A new statewide charge, however small, is added to a bill that keeps climbing. Source: Bluefield Research and industry rate surveys.
2. A flat per-account charge is regressive. Every household pays the same $0.75 in this fictional proposal regardless of income, and a widely used rule of thumb, built by adding two EPA benchmarks, treats combined water and sewer costs above roughly 4.5 percent of household income as a high burden. EPA's 2024 affordability assessment used both that line and a lower 3 percent line. Source: EPA Water Affordability Needs Assessment and EPA affordability benchmarks.
3. Employers capture most of the benefit, so employers should carry more of the cost. A payroll assessment on utilities, or a placement fee paid by the hiring system, would match who pays to who gains better than a household charge does. Source: fictional testimony from a Stridham ratepayer advocacy group.
4. The state already funds operator training. Community colleges and existing apprenticeship programs run courses now, and a new academy would compete with them for the same instructors and the same students. Source: fictional testimony from the Stridham community college association.
5. Retention may be the binding constraint rather than training. The wage range in this occupation is wide, from under $39,110 for the lowest-paid tenth of operators to over $91,060 for the highest-paid tenth, so graduates can move to larger systems or to industrial employers. If they do, Stridham ratepayers will have trained other employers' workforces. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
6. One statewide curriculum fits systems unevenly. A small rural district often needs distribution, pump, and maintenance skills more than plant chemistry, and a centralized academy tends to teach toward the larger plants. Source: fictional testimony from the Stridham small systems council.
7. The same money has other uses that address small systems more directly. About $9,900,000 a year could instead fund consolidation grants or subsidize loans for systems that cannot afford treatment upgrades. Source: fictional analysis by the Stridham legislative fiscal office.