The American Water Works Association (AWWA) recently released its 2024 State of the Water Industry report, revealing that source water protection is a top priority for the water sector.

The report is based on feedback from more than 2,400 water professionals, and covers challenges and priorities facing the water sector, including source water protection, aging infrastructure, PFAS, cybersecurity, climate change, workforce, and more. The largest group of respondents (68%) represented water utilities, followed by 20% of respondents providing goods and services to the water sector.

Respondents ranked watershed/source water protection as the water sector’s most pressing challenge for the first time in the survey’s 21-year history. Financing capital improvements ranked as the second greatest, followed by aging infrastructure. Attracting and retaining skilled workers is also a persistent challenge in the sector.

“If we don’t have safe and reliable sources, we don’t have the ability to support public health,” said AWWA Source Water Protection Committee chair Raven Lawson. “Just as we recognize threats to aging infrastructure, we now more readily recognize and understand threats to our source waters.”

Access more information and the report via the AWWA news release.