2026.06.22
Clean water has been a given in Sweden – not anymore as the expertise is about to run out!
We take clean water for granted. It flows from the tap, the treatment plants do their job, the pipes are where they should be. But behind that obviousness are people – engineers, operating technicians, designers – and they are the ones who are starting to run out.
The skills shortage in the water sector is not just about a lack of personnel and training. It is already costing Swedish companies business and threatening society's most critical infrastructure. For the first time, the Water Industry can measure development over time – it is going in the wrong direction.
In the Water Industry Competency Survey 2026, we have asked our member companies directly about the situation. This is the second time we have conducted the survey and the results can now be compared with 2022. The turnout is also higher than ever: the response rate is 75 percent, compared to 51 percent last time. The answers should worry everyone who cares about Swedish water supply, climate adaptation and crisis preparedness.
90 percent of the companies responding have had difficulty filling at least one position in the past year. The serious thing is not the number itself, but what it has led to: companies have withdrawn bids, missed orders and been unable to expand. The proportion that has withdrawn bids has even increased since 2022, from 35 to 42 percent. The skills shortage has gone from being an HR concern to becoming a growth and preparedness problem. Every withdrawn bid is a sewage treatment plant that is not expanded on time, an investment that is postponed, a municipality that has to wait longer for a safe and secure water supply.
The need is growing, 72 percent of respondents expect the need for labor to increase over the next five years. At the same time, a large part of a very experienced generation is soon retiring.
This exposes a structural trap. The industry primarily requires experienced employees at mid- and senior levels – but hardly any juniors. This is understandable: in demanding projects with public clients, there is rarely room for training. But experience cannot be recruited out of thin air. It is built by letting young people in and allowing them to grow. If no one takes in juniors today, there will be no seniors tomorrow. Yet only 15 percent of companies offer a trainee program – a proportion that has remained unchanged since 2022.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking figure concerns how people end up in the industry in the first place. 63 percent of respondents did not actively seek out the water sector – they ”stumbled into” it via other routes. But 76 percent plan to stay. The conclusion is as clear as it is hopeful: the water sector is an industry that people thrive in and stay in. The problem is not in retaining people, but in getting the industry discovered. We are one of society’s most meaningful workplaces – and one of the most invisible.
The most worrying thing, however, is that the problem has not eased despite four years of attention. On the contrary, the obstacles to developing skills have grown. Lack of time remains the biggest obstacle – 78 percent in both years – but the costs as an obstacle have more than doubled, from 22 to 46 percent. The proportion who have difficulty finding the right training has grown from 17 to 32 percent, and the concern that trained personnel change jobs from 9 to 30 percent. In other words: the pressure on companies is increasing at the same time as the need for skills development is growing.
This can be reversed, but not only by the business community. We see four ways forward:
Make the routes more numerous and clearer. Industry-wide marketing, internships, degree projects and more trainee positions. The loyalty is already there – 76 percent stay – it's about letting more people discover the profession.
Build the junior ranks consciously. We as employers must dare to take on and train young people, even when the pace is high. When only 15 percent offer traineeships, there is significant untapped potential.
Use public procurement as leverage. Public clients today are happy to buy ready-made experience. But if procurement allows and rewards junior resources and skills development, the industry is built from the bottom up. The fact that support for adapted procurement requirements has grown among respondents, from 13 to 20 percent, shows that the industry itself sees this as an increasingly important key. It is a concrete button that politics can press.
Meet the digital skills boost. The need for skills in cybersecurity (83 percent), AI (74 percent) and automation (71 percent) is growing the fastest – and is already difficult to recruit. The water sector is now competing for the same talent as the rest of the business world. This requires that training places match the needs and that the industry coordinates.
Water is not an issue that can wait. The consequences are already visible in abandoned deals and postponed investments – and four years of alarm have not reversed the trend. The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be. We in the business community are prepared to do our part. Now we need politics, municipalities and the education system with us.
Because it's basically about something very simple: if the water is to continue flowing from the tap, there must be people who make sure it does.
Joachim Jämttjärn, Secretary General of the Swedish Water Industry
John Skantze, Huber Technology AB and chairman of the Swedish Water Industry,
Matilda Jirbom, Ramboll and Chair of NextGen, Water Industry
Data: Water Industry Competence Survey 2026 (49 responses, 75 percent response rate) with comparison to the corresponding survey 2022 (30 responses). Comparisons are only made for questions that were asked equally in both years. Percentages refer to those who answered each question. The surveys reflect the Water Industry's own situation and are not statistically representative samples of the entire sector.
Talk to us on June 25th at Water Day in Almedalen, Tranhusgatan 26, Visby, about the skills of the future.