Altamonte Springs taps high school students to fix wastewater staffing issues

A week after 9 Investigates reported Seminole County was struggling to fill wastewater operations positions, there's a new plan to steer students into the "water workforce."

Channel 9 first uncovered an audit underway into Seminole County’s water and wastewater treatment plants, where leaders have been struggling to fill at least 16 positions.

Now, in just a few months, local high school students will have an opportunity to fast-track themselves into those types of jobs.

Studies show this is an industry-wide issue. In the next decade, about one-third of all water and wastewater utility workers are expected to retire, and local leaders want students to know this is a workforce that does not require a degree.

“The national need for plant operators has grown up because many of these projects were built 25, 30 years ago and hired people at that time as new plant operators,” Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz said.