In appreciation of Arizona's water professionals who provide a vital service

Our daily lives greatly depend on the availability and reliability of clean water. Access to safe and secure water is impossible without a dedicated and diverse team of water professionals who understand that protecting and managing Arizona’s water supplies is crucial to the state’s future.

Providing water to more than half of the state’s population is no small feat. The ten AMWUA cities employ over 2,500 water professionals, and every one of them plays a vital role in delivering water to your tap, providing essential wastewater services, and ensuring that water operations run seamlessly. This includes the collective operation and maintenance of 30 water treatment plants and more than 1 million water meters, having 142,000 fire hydrants ready for emergencies, and constructing, maintaining, and upgrading over 18,000 miles of water lines as needed. 

This educated and well-trained workforce includes operators of water and wastewater treatment systems and technicians who maintain and repair thousands of miles of water lines daily. Operating a water utility also requires the expertise of engineers, hydrologists, and biologists, along with specialists in water policy, economics, business administration, law, environmental sciences, and communications. This diverse group collaborates every day to ensure water is delivered to our homes, businesses, schools, and health facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

It’s easy to see why water professionals are essential to every community. We are grateful for their dedication every day of the year because, without the team of water experts, the reliability and safety of our water would not exist. The annual Arizona Water Professionals Appreciation Week  is an important acknowledgment of water professionals across our state. The recognition week aims to highlight these vital workers and their role in sustaining and delivering clean water supplies, emphasize career opportunities in the water industry, and raise awareness of Arizona’s unique water resources. 

We always recognize their valuable contributions, and during Arizona Water Professionals Appreciation Week, we express additional gratitude to these essential water workers as we honor the services they provide and acknowledge the commitment, passion, and dedication of all the men and women in the water sector. We hope you will do the same.

Become a water professional

When you work in water, you don’t just enjoy a good, stable job with dependable benefits. You get excellent training, a challenging job environment, and the satisfaction of knowing you directly benefit your community to ensure a good quality of life for the present and future generations. By choosing to work in water, you will embark on a rewarding, innovative, and challenging career that has a lasting impact on public health, the environment, and a thriving economy. Visit your local water utility’s website or the AZ Water Association  for current opportunities to become an Arizona Water Professional and join a diverse team that works together to protect our most valuable resource.

The AZ Water Association  will host its 98th Annual Conference and Exhibition  during the seventh annual Arizona Water Professionals Appreciation Week, April 14 to 18. The conference aims to provide professional development, continuing education, and technology transfer to support its vision of “a vibrant Arizona through safe, reliable water.” The association, representing 2,700 water and wastewater professionals across the state, is dedicated to preserving and enhancing Arizona’s water environment. Its members include operators, engineers, scientists, technicians, and public and private water utilities managers. Members range from small community utilities with as few as two employees to large city systems with hundreds of employees, such as those in the AMWUA cities. All are essential team members in the water sector, emphasizing the diversity necessary to deliver every drop of water we use.