Supporting thriving water futures through education and career pathways: perspectives from the Hawai‘i water sector

Executive Summary

In this report, we share insights from representatives from the freshwater sector on how the University of Hawai‘i can best support a thriving water future for Hawai‘i through strengthening educational and career pathways. This research is a multi-department collaboration including the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization, the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience, University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program, the Water Resources Research Center, the Department of Geography and Environment. Funding for this work is from the Hawaiian Islands Environmental Finance Center of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. The objectives of the overall project are to:

1. Understand the staffing needs and barriers faced by the water sector, particularly as they relate to the training desired from University of Hawai‘i programming.
2. Identify the skills and capacity needed for thriving water stewardship now and into the future.
3. Identify key features of sustained and successful models of education and career pathway programs.
4. Understand existing assets at the University of Hawai‘i and identify pathways towards enhancing workforce and educational pathways.

In this report, we present phase one of this work, which focuses on the first two objectives. A forthcoming report will include findings from interviews with various education and career development programs, including existing University of Hawai‘i system water-related initiatives. For phase one, presented here, we summarize findings from semi-structured interviews with 43 water sector representatives from federal, state, and county agencies as well as private and civil society representatives. Interviews four main themes:

• Motivations and pathways: what inspired interviewees to work in water and what were their professional and personal journeys into their current position.
• Landscape of water-related positions available and skills needed: types and number of positions related to water at the organization now and into the future; desirable skills and experiences for people filling vacancies.
• Challenges with staffing shortages and retention: vacancy and retention challenges faced by the organization; obstacles and potential solutions to these challenges.
• Ideas for the University of Hawai‘i (UH): perspectives on how the University of Hawai‘i can better prepare students now and into the future; ideas on the broader role of UH in water stewardship in Hawai‘i.

Key insights from the first phase of this work include:

• Many representatives from the water sector are broadly motivated by a commitment to public service and a sense of responsibility and connection to their community.
• Low pay and limited advancement opportunities are viewed as key factors contributing to staffing vacancy and retention challenges, particularly for, but not limited to, engineering positions in state and county agencies.
• Interviewees noted a limited applicant pool for some positions (e.g. engineers, hydrogeologists, aquatic biologists) and a need for more training in these areas.
• Limited awareness and advertising of job opportunities coupled with slow applicant review and hiring processes also present challenges to hiring. Some agencies are tackling these challenges through expanded outreach and developing hiring workarounds.
• Some interviewees noted that institutional culture and position descriptions do not always effectively support the recruitment and retention of local candidates with lived experiences and demonstrated interest in mālama ‘āina or environmental careers.
• Interviewees pointed to a need for graduates with strong technical degrees and training; simultaneously, they emphasized the need for a holistic understanding of the political, cultural, economic, and historical dimensions of water.
• Interviewees emphasized the value of comprehensive training in practical skills, including communications and public outreach, power dynamics, project management, and field and lab work skills.
• Many suggested that the University of Hawai‘i has an important role to play in convening organizations and people across the water sector and in conducting applied and policy-relevant research.
• Many organizations have or have had internships and other professional pathway programs, but nearly all interviewees were interested in further discussing pathway development with the University of Hawai‘i and across the water sector broadly.

Following these interviews, a workshop was held on December 12, 2024 to discuss and refine results from the first phase. Input from this workshop has also been incorporated into this report. The second phase of this project focuses on interviews with individuals from UH departments and professional development programs to understand the current assets, gaps, and best practices to inform and strengthen water educational and career pathways through the university system.

1. Introduction

Supporting a thriving community of water stewardship into the future for Hawai‘i requires investing in educational and career pathways for the next generation of water stewards. The “freshwater sector” or “water sector” includes people caring for water mauka to makai– from those protecting watersheds, to those allocating and distributing water, to those treating wastewater, to those who steward wetlands, streams, lo‘i kalo, loko i‘a, and other aquatic systems. Despite the importance of this sector to the way of life, ecosystems, culture, and economy of Hawai‘i, recruitment and retention into these positions has been identified as a major challenge. Recent reports on the natural resource and conservation sector, which overlap on some fronts with the water sector, points to important barriers to a sustained and equitable workforce including low pay coupled with a high cost of living, inefficient hiring processes, and limited opportunities for career advancement (Hawaii Workforce Funders Collaborative 2025; Green Jobs Report 2024; Natural Resources Careers Report 2023; HCA 2024).

The staffing challenges facing the water sector clearly require action far beyond what the University of Hawai‘i system can address. However, the University of Hawai‘i has an important role to play in facilitating the broad and specialized training and career development opportunities for the current and future water workforce of the State of Hawai‘i. Water management does not fit neatly into any particular academic discipline and requires knowledge and experience drawing from diverse fields including hydrology, engineering, ecology, public health, political science, economics, law, and planning. Water management also necessitates navigating divergent worldviews and values and complex histories (Pascual et al 2023, Beamer 2025). Students benefit from real-world, practical experiences working with agencies, non-profits, community groups, businesses and others who are involved in water stewardship. Moreover, in order to fulfill the State’s obligations to manage water as a public trust resource, the water professionals of tomorrow should have a deep and contextualized understanding of Hawai‘i ecosystems and communities who rely on flows of freshwater for traditional and customary practices. The imperative for the University of Hawai‘i to provide affordable and effective educational ‘auwai, or educational and career pathways, for students of and connected to the Hawaiian Islands and other islands of the Pacific facing parallel water challenges is more important than ever in these times of change.

The purpose of this report is to build understanding of how the University of Hawai‘i can best support a thriving water future for Hawai‘i through strengthening relevant educational and career pathways. This work is funded by the Hawaiian Islands Environmental Finance Center and the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and is a collaboration among multiple departments at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, including the Water Resources Research Center, the Department of Geography and Environment, the Institute for Sustainability and Resilience, the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization, and the University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program. This report represents the culmination of a scoping effort in that we aim to listen to and understand needs and opportunities and lay the groundwork for co-developing water educational and career pathway programming into the future.

Report findings draw from a series of interviews and workshop discussions with representatives from the water sector across Hawai‘i.

The main objectives of this report are to:

1. Understand the needs and barriers to current and future staffing within the water sector, particularly as related to the training and capacity building needed from University of Hawai‘i programming.
2. Identify the skills and capacity needed for thriving water stewardship now and into the future.

Hawaiian Language

The Hawaiian language is highly nuanced. Most words and phrases have multiple meanings and interpretations. Throughout this report translation resources are provided for Hawaiian language terms where contextual explanation is not already available in the text. Translation resources included here do not pull from a single source, instead the most appropriate definition is provided, based on the best assessment and expertise of the authors.

2. Methods

Phase 1: Water Sector

Between January and June 2024, we conducted 38 semi-structured interviews with 43 key informants with professional roles related to water management. In several cases more than one interviewee was present in an interview. Participants were selected based on their involvement with water in Hawai‘i. We tried to represent “water sector” perspectives broadly, by including those working on watershed protection, water allocation, distribution and regulation, wastewater management, as well as community and cultural uses of water. We emphasized representation from major government agencies (n=26 interviews, 29 interviewees) directly involved in water resources at the:

• Federal level (n=8 interviews, 10 interviewees). This included representatives from: the United States Geological Survey Pacific Islands Water Science Center, the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Weather Service; and Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command.
• State level (n=10 interviews, 10 interviewees). This included representatives from: the Department of Land and Natural Resources (Commission on Water Resource Management; Division of Forestry and Wildlife; Division of Aquatic Resources), the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, the Department of Agriculture; and the Department of Health.
• County level (n=8 interviews, 9 interviewees). This included representatives from the Honolulu, Maui, and Hawai‘i County county water utilities and county storm and wastewater representatives.

We also included representatives from private organizations (e.g. foundations, landowners, and planning or consulting organizations; n=6 interviews, 7 interviewees) and civil society organizations (n=6 interviews, 7 interviewees). Civil society representatives included two umbrella organizations who support networks of ‘āina-based stewards and other other community-based management efforts that rely on flows of freshwater for traditional and customary rights, a protected public trust use of water. Within private and civil society interviews, a number of key informants were selected based on their broader perspective on water resources, including on the political, historical, and cultural dimensions of sound water management, some of whom had worked for multiple agencies in the past.

Interviews were semi-structured and focused on four main themes:

1. Motivations and pathways: what inspired them to work in the water sector and their professional and personal journey to their current position.
2. Landscape of water-related positions available and skills needed: types and number of positions related to water at their organization now and into the future; desirable skills and experiences for people filling vacancies.
3. Challenges with staffing shortages and retention: vacancy and retention issues faced by the organization; obstacles and potential solutions to these issues.
4. Ideas for the University of Hawai‘i: perspectives on how the University of Hawai‘i could better prepare students now and into the future; ideas on the broader role of UH in water in Hawai‘i.

In the case of interviewees working for smaller organizations, for themes 2 and 3, we asked broadly about the water sector in Hawai‘i, rather than limiting it to their organization.

Interviews were carried out in 2024. All, with the exception of two interviews, were conducted on Zoom, and generally lasted an hour. If participants agreed to being recorded, interviews were audio-recorded and interviews transcribed. Following transcription, interviews were coded for defined and emerging themes using the MaxQDA software. Interviewees were sent a draft report over email and were able to provide feedback over email or in person at a workshop held in December 2024. The workshop was attended by 31 individuals representing federal, state, and county government, nonprofits, civil society organizations, and the University of Hawai‘i. Most attendees were interviewees or representing organizations that were interviewed.

We acknowledge that the water sector can be defined in different ways and that there are gaps and limitations in who we interviewed. In particular, we are missing perspectives from private consulting firms as well as some of the county agencies on neighbor islands. To address various perspectives on how the water sector should be defined, we also asked many of our interviewees how they would define the water sector in Hawai‘i and present their responses in the results section.

The themes and ideas summarized here are by no means an exhaustive view of water sector perspectives. They do, however, represent a compilation of the insight and expertise of key representatives from a diverse range of water stewardship entities in Hawai‘i. This compilation provides a snapshot in time of the challenges and opportunities faced by the efforts to build a thriving community of water stewardship into the future. In particular, it is important to note that changes in federal agency staffing and federal funding sources dramatically altered the landscape of employment opportunities and vacancies across all areas of the water sector starting in January 2025 and this report does not reflect those changes.

3. Results

3.1. What motivates people to work in the water sector?

Interviewees broadly expressed interest in serving their community and the public as major motivations for their work. Many were inspired by early experiences and relationships with water and the environment. Most paths were non-linear, with few directly choosing a career in water. Many serendipitously “stumbled” on a water career and found deep meaning and importance in the field once they arrived.

Motivated by public service

Many interviewees, particularly those at agencies, widely discussed the value of a career in public service. An interviewee who spent over a decade in public service shared this sentiment:

“I think working for the state specifically, I was attracted to the prospect of not working for a bottom line or making money really for a company or something like that. But really just using my knowledge as a scientist to one, help people understand complex information and scientific principles and two, hopefully increasing equity and protection for the environment.”

Those working with various county utilities expressed a strong commitment to serving the public through delivering clean water. One county utility staff explained, “So I look at that [utility] as loosely interpreted as the public servant of water… the mission that we have is just so important and we serve everybody on the island.” A representative from another county utility similarly described their motivation for interesting work in public service, “I think my job is super fun… And I feel it’s important service… I don’t know what else could be more important.”

A county interviewee spoke to similar themes: “So it’s really with the mindset of public service, and really trying to do things that’s for the right reasons and hoping to be able to make some meaningful impacts and changes for future generations.” The need to protect water for broad public health benefit is seen as particularly important. One staff member from a county utility who had spent years on the continent described their awareness of the importance of protecting water resources in Hawai‘i: “Being back here, on an isolated island, it’s even more obvious to me that we really need to protect it. So that is what keeps me going.” A state interviewee similarly discussed why so many people tend to stay in jobs working in water as it relates to public health: “I think people tend to stay there because they like what they do– it’s public health; they feel they have a mission.”

Motivated by responsibility and connection to family, community, and place

Relatedly, many expressed a strong sense of responsibility and connection to their families, communities and as an important motivator for what they do. In the words of a civil society interviewee: “a lot of folks that I know see it as their kuleana as providing that water to their families.” They continued, “So being Kanaka on a personal point, it’s just ingrained in us right to mālamaour resources.” Another interviewee and a long-standing leader in water governance elaborated, “what I’ve realized is not a lot of people choose that [water] as a career path…But I’ve realized that it’s some kind of bigger event or some kind of emotional connection, or kuleana that really draws people to wai. It’s definitely what got me into it.”

On a similar note, childhood and early experiences with water and the natural world was a common motivator for current work in the water sector. A representative from a private sector interview captured this:

“I think maybe just having grown up in a rural setting, farming, ranching, hunting and fishing. I was really an outdoors person. I didn’t play sports and that kind of stuff, mostly just got lost in the mountains most of the time… Really I’ve been blessed with a family and kūpuna [who] cared about these things, so I think in high school I knew already I wanted to go into something with dirt and water, but then the trees and environment. So I think when I left for college I sort of had that in mind and I’ll be honest, I don’t know how I quite ended up in water specifically.”

Likewise, a State government interviewee pointed to their lifelong experiences in the forest as motivation for their watershed protection work:

“Just being out and being taken out in nature and finding the forest super beautiful and feeling like it has made my life so wonderful, to be able to experience these places that are unlike anywhere else in the entire world, and just wanting to kind of keep them that way and give back to the Hawai‘i that I love so much.”

A federal agency representative similarly explained their motivation:

“I was born and raised on O‘ahu. I am Kanaka‘Ōiwias well. So I always have felt very connected to the land and growing up… all of our time off, family vacations was spent outside exploring the environment, be it in the ocean or in the mountains. So that really inspired me from a young age to go out and ask questions and touch things and explore and kind of grow up as a scientist. So that was why I was interested in the field at a young age.”

Others pointed to their childhood and later experiences and observations as instilling an understanding of the importance of water. A civil society participant explained how growing up in a coastal community was pivotal to understanding land-sea connections and to their current career path in water:

“For me, it was always so obvious the connection between land and sea, and you know, every time it would rain, right, all the water would all the runoff, all the red dirt, right would go into the streams and right out into …[place name] Bay… that’s one of the benefits of growing up on an island and seeing entire ecosystems at a much smaller scale, and really experiencing that.”

Interviewees discussed how personal and family memories of what places and waterways used to be increased their motivation to contribute to fields such as wastewater and stormwater. For example, a county representative explained:

“My mom used to tell me all the stories about how when she was young.. she would go play in the streams or whatever, and how there used to be a ton of ‘ōpae and all these things. And then growing up, you can see that things have changed. And so, that story kind of inspires me too because now I have daughters.”

Commitment to environmental and social justice

Some interviewees spoke to their careers as helping to advance social and environmental justice. A civil society participant explained their motivation for a career focused on water justice: “I don’t like bullies. I work on issues that try to address historical injustices in Hawai‘i, especially the treatment of Native Hawaiians. I want to live in a just society, and I don’t right now, so I work on trying to improve that.”

A Federal agency interviewee shared that their own path to working in the environmental justice space rooted from both their enjoyment of the outdoors and also learning later in life that the lake where their family spent summers was a Superfund site, contaminated with mercury:

“We ate the fish that we caught. We shared the fish with people back home… And I remember feeling so angry that we were not aware that we were being exposed to something as harmful as mercury… And that’s how I got to where I am now and to being so passionate about environmental justice and environmental protection.”

Speaking to broader environmental justice concerns, a civil society representative explained their connection to ‘āina-based work, “I mean part of it is because I grew up in a community that was very close to kalofarmers and things like that… So the water fights… were always going to be intricately woven into my childhood.”

Interesting, engaging, and stable work

Interviewees also described work in the water sector as interesting and engaging, allowing them to work creatively and on systems-level challenges. A federal agency representative explained, “I just like the creativity with water resources… There’s a lot of open endedness to it.” Some described a fascination with water from early experiences, such as a county representative: “I remember the field trip [to a utility] where I saw the artesian well flow out in front of our building or pump building. And the water just gushed out under natural artesian pressure and it fascinated me and I just was fascinated with water from then.”

Finally, while interviewees often pointed to problems with financial compensation, some pointed to the water sector as a stable industry that can provide good job security. One interviewee explained, “I think for a lot of people, this is a stable industry to be in. Like every industry, regardless of what you do, requires water and wastewater… so just knowing that okay, job security wise this is always going to be there.”

3.2. Conceptualizations of the water sector

When asked how they would define the “water sector,” interviewees responded that the sector should be conceptualized broadly and grounded in the “life cycle of water” from the source watershed protection, to regulation, to supply and distribution, to various users of water, and to the management of storm and wastewater. In the words of a private sector interviewee:

“It’s the scientists at the University who are working on water issues. It’s the people who bring water to your home, like water operators, it’s the people who treat the water after leaving our homes, the wastewater operators. It’s the people working in the mauka forest in a watershed restoration. It’s people doing lo‘ikalo…Anyone who plays a role in the management and protection of water in Hawai‘i is part of the water sector”

Another utility representative described the sector as:

“If you just imagine… where’s it [the water] coming from? Where’s it going? Where does it wind up and then returns to the hydrologic cycle, to start all over again and so forth. Anyone involved in an aspect of that is part of the water sector. So that’s the broadest definition.”

Many, particularly at utilities emphasized how their conceptualizations of the sector had expanded:

“And so clearly we got our engineers, we got our consultants, we got hydrogeologists, of course, too, there’s also the community side of it. We’ve got the watershed, anybody who makes up part of the watershed protection type of thing there, all of that. The users themselves too…you’ve got to bring them all into this environment to understand that, you know, water is precious.. I know it’s [the water sector] definitely way broader than when I first started at the [organization] what I thought it was.”

A civil society interviewee pointed to a similar theme of how they felt conceptualizations of the water sector were broadening:

“I think there’s a lot more emphasis on people who interact with water resources in different ways… so the water regulators, but also the person who’s trying to do restoration activities that needs water to feed their lo‘ikalo, that is thoughtful in how they return water back to that system to minimize sediment, runoff, etc. It’s the people that are trying to do coral and limu restoration efforts, who are trying to better understand the role of things like submerged water, better understand the roles of river flow and water quality in impacting those nearshore marine restoration efforts.”

Others pointed to the water sector as including employees across their organization:

“Whether you’re an engineer with a license or an accountant or a scientist or a groundskeeper maintaining our grounds, or our janitorial, custodial staff, keeping our buildings clean, or our field staff repairing pipelines, maintaining the water system, we kind of consider all of ourselves as water professionals.”

3.3. Water sector staffing opportunities and challenges

Career paths in the water sector are diverse, ranging from engineers, to water resource planners, to water system operators, to ecologists, to chemists, to human resource professionals (Table 1). Some of the largest employers in the water sector are in the county utilities and wastewater management units, the State Departments of Health and Land and Natural Resources, and the United States Geological Survey Pacific Islands Water Science Center. Some agencies, including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources, have many positions that relate to water including through watershed or aquatic wildlife management. Across agencies and across job categories more broadly, high vacancy rates of ~30-70% were reported, with particular concerns for engineering positions at state and county organizations. In the words of one county representative regarding vacancies: “it’s been kind of chronic for a few years, for every county department that has an engineering division – wastewater, public works, all of them and on all the islands.”

The main factors noted by interviewees as contributing to vacancy issues in the water sector include low pay, limited opportunities for advancement, high competition for a limited applicant pool, recruitment and hiring limitations, and institutional cultures. To address these challenges agencies and organizations take measures such as adjusting minimum qualifications or job descriptions, increasing recruitment efforts, workaround for hiring processes, adding training programs, providing mentoring and professional development opportunities, and in a few cases, increasing pay.

Table 1: Career paths available within water-related government agencies (please note that this table is a snapshot in time and based on the information provided from January-June 2024).

COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Entity	Career Paths Available (not exhaustive)	Number of Positions and Vacancies
Honolulu Board of Water Supply	Engineers Engineering technicians Water Resource Planners Well Operators Mechanics Electricians Telemetering Chemical & Microbiological Lab Operators Human Resources Finance Professionals Information Technology Cybersecurity Customer Service Communications Design & Construction Land Agents & Abstractors Hydrogeologists (significant need) Hydrologists Planners Finance professionals (budget and accounting) Leak detection investigators Program administrators Automotive	~741 authorized positions ~544 encumbered ; ~ 20-30% vacancy
Maui Department of Water Supply	Engineers Field Plant Operations Well Operations Water Treatment Plant Operations Fiscal Water Resources Planning Administrative Compliance Specialists (significant need) GIS (significant need) Water/Energy Specialists (significant need)	~200 positions; chronic shortage in engineering positions, but vacancies across the board.
Hawai‘i County Department of Water Supply	Engineers (civil) Engineer support techs Land surveyors Accounting Admin IT GIS (significant need) Cybersecurity (significant need) Project managers (significant need)	~12 vacant civil engineer positions; ~ 2 to 3 vacant mechanical engineering positions
City & County of Honolulu Stormwater	Engineers Engineer Techs Investigations Enforcement Planners Environmental Health GIS Specialists Community Relations Administration Environmental Health Contracts specialist	~36 positions, 7 vacancies (~20% vacancy; 2 engineer, 2 environmental technician, 2 environmental health, 1 assistant chief )
City & County of Honolulu Environmental Services	Engineers Engineering Technicians Chemists Water sampling technicians Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators Inspectors Administration Customer service GIS IT	~750 positions related to wastewater; ~30% vacancy (50 vacancies in engineers (>50%) and 60 vacancies in wastewater operators).

STATE GOVERNMENT
Entity	Career Paths Available (not exhaustive)	Number of Positions and Vacancies
Department of Land & Natural Resources, Division of Forestry & Wildlife	Variety of positions related to watershed protection	~390 total positions for the department (130 civil service positions and 260 contractors through RCUH). Additional positions for watershed partnerships and special projects. Lots of vacancies
Department of Land & Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources	Biologists Fishery Technicians Program Managers Program Specialists (Legal & Policy) Community planners Administration Planners Project Coordinators	~70 positions total; ~ 30% vacancy
Department of Agriculture	Engineers Planners Operators	Lots of vacancies; For example, 2 positions have been vacant for 7 years
Department of Health	Environmental engineer (civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc.) Inspectors Treatment system reviewer Distribution/collection system reviewer Permit application reviewer Operator training Geologist Environmental health specialist Monitoring, compliance and enforcement Quality assurance/quality control Data management Planner Public participation coordinator Contract specialist General professional Business loan officer Accountant Information technology specialist Office assistant Secretary Engineering program manager Environmental health program manager Environmental resource officers Hazardous waste specialist Lab management and technicians	Clean Water Branch (43 positions; 4 vacancies – 4 anticipated vacancies); Safe Drinking Water Branch (36 positions; 13 vacancies – 2 anticipated vacancies); Surface Water Protection Branch (5 positions; 6 anticipated vacancies); Wastewater Branch: (31 positions; 7 vacancies – 2 anticipated vacancies).
Department of Land & Natural Resources, Commission on Water Resource Management	Hydrologists Engineers Planners Environmental/water law Geologists	33 positions total with 13 vacancies (~40%).
Department of Hawaiian Homelands	Engineers Water Systems Operators Water Specialists	Currently 5 water system operators but ideally would double that amount. There are vacancies but do not know the exact number

FEDERAL
Entity	Career Paths Available (not exhaustive)	Vacancies
United States Geological Survey	Hydrologists Hydrologic technicians IT roles Admin Data management Hydrologic field assistants Aquatic biologists Outreach	~50 staff total: ~15 hydrologists, ~15 hydrologic technicians
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service	Project Leaders Biological Technicians Facilities Management Visitors Services, Education & Outreach Equipment Operators Aquatic biologist Environmental scientists	~100 positions total but not all are water related.
National Weather Service	Hydrologist	1 position in Pacific region
Environmental Protection Agency	Drinking Water Inspectors Enforcement & Compliance Assurance Environmental Scientists Life Scientists Public Affairs Specialists	11 positions (1 related to water)
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command	Program Manager Environmental Compliance and Services Environmental Protection Specialist Environmental Engineers Hydrologists Chemists Planners Cultural Resources Professionals Natural Resources Specialists Forester Fish and Wildlife Administration Wildlife Biologists Community Planner Historian Anthropology Archaeology Entomologist (Environmental) Technical Engineer Landscape Architect Architect Program Analyst Geologist	~85 positions with ~12% vacancy

Interviewees and workshop participants also provided suggestions for future job positions to be created or expanded:

• Artificial Intelligence specialists
• Aquatic biologists
• Biologists
• Chemists
• Cesspool conversation specialists
• Climate scientists
• Compliance specialists
• Community liaisons
• Contract specialists
• Cultural practitioners
• Cybersecurity specialists
• Data management and outreach personnel
• Environmental health specialists
• Environmental scientists
• GIS specialists
• Green stormwater infrastructure maintenance personnel
• Hydrogeologists
• Investigative journalists focused on water/policy/corruption
• NGO water quality data coordinators
• Planners
• Stormwater customer service specialists
• Stormwater financial planning/asset management specialists
• Toxicologists
• Water and energy nexus specialists
• Water legal fellow/policy/compliance specialists

What are the main factors contributing to vacancy issues in the water sector?

Low pay and limited advancement opportunities

Low pay and limited advancement opportunities, particularly in state and county agencies, was the most commonly cited reason for challenges with vacancies and retention. Even for those who are highly motivated and passionate about the work, the compensation packages often are considered too low, in the context of Hawai‘i’s high cost of living. In the words of one interviewee, “I think it really just comes down to… nobody can really afford to do this job and live here.”

For local employees, some leave state and county jobs for the private or federal sectors, as the difference between public and private sector salary is very stark (one interviewee mentioned a $30,000 per year difference for entry-level engineer positions). Interviewees shared that government jobs are increasingly less desirable for local applicants, while non-local applicants who are hired for water sector positions often leave shortly after arriving in Hawai‘i, mainly due to the high cost of living. One county interviewee discussed challenges with retaining recent graduates as they advance in their careers:

“Money still talks… these are people that are now in their late twenties. They’re trying to start a family, trying to get their homes, and we’re talking in Hawai‘i. You need that extra money, and they can’t get it here, cuz they’re stuck structurally. They’re going to have to look elsewhere. And so we have lost people because of that.”

While a major challenge is clearly low salaries, interviewees also pointed to the limited applicant pools for positions including engineering and hydrologists, which further exacerbates competition for qualified applicants. In the words of a state interviewee:

“The competition for engineers is absolutely insane. When you look at the needs, and the pay in the private sector and the federal government, the city and state just have a really hard time competing. The compensation package from the salary to the benefits package, it can’t compete anymore. And that’s why we are having such a hard time getting people to even come in for an interview…There are very, very, very few people who are looking at government work as a path anymore. The private sector changed, and they did a great job at it. They’ve become more family-oriented, they’ve gotten better hours, more understanding on leave, certainly pay more, more opportunities for training and travel. The government just has a really hard time keeping up. They’ve been aware of the problem for a very long time. But, you know, for various reasons, have been unable to close that gap.”

They continued:

“The youngest engineer I have here is 50 or 51. So there’s no succession planning. I’ve been trying to succession plan for 20 years. And I can’t do it. Because I can’t get the next generation in… What happens when this current brain trust leaves… or decides to retire? There’s going to be a massive amount of knowledge that just disappears. And recreating that is going to be almost impossible.”

Many positions in the water sector require specific and technical skill sets and qualifications, which are not always available. One state representative shared their experience with this saying, “we recently hired one groundwater hydrologist, and that was a really difficult process, because the candidates are very few and far between. And when they do come to us, the experiences are not necessarily in water resources.” Some individuals perceived a mismatch between academic programs and workforce needs, especially in water-related fields. One of the most competitive positions to recruit for is engineers:

“The University of Hawai‘i can’t graduate engineers fast enough. I believe every engineering graduate that comes out of UH has multiple offers, that they can start the day after they graduate. So the competition for those graduates is tense, which is why the salaries have gone up and the private sector has been able to lead that charge and they’re not coming to the government.”

Limited opportunities for advancement in state and county water positions were also of significant concern. Some public sector agencies (especially state and municipal entities) have a limited number of higher-level positions, so people can only advance into those positions when their predecessors retire or resign. One former state employee describes how this can impact potential employees, especially younger professionals, by sharing:

“There’s no advancement opportunities in the state… When I was there, I never moved up to management or something like that. So if you are like a young professional, and you want to build your career, it’s kind of hard to look at a job at the state [or city and county] and say, like, wow, I’m just going to do that job for a long time… Whereas the federal government… has tracks where you can actually grow and gain pay and responsibility so eventually… you’d become some kind of like, director or deputy. So I think that’s really limiting. If I was a young, young person now applying, I’d see that and be like, oh, that’s kind of limiting for my career.”

Recruitment and Hiring Constraints

Inadequate recruitment and slow hiring timelines was another often stated challenge to recruitment. Hiring practices and recruitment processes lack flexibility, with rigid qualifications and limited support for hiring managers which can lead to the exclusion of qualified candidates. County and state agencies, in particular, discussed how challenging it can be to get new positions or reclassify them given the many approvals needed from HR departments, labor unions, and city and state administrative offices. In the words of a county interviewee:

 “In order to hire and fill our vacancies, we have to go through sort of this whole process of requesting to create and fill up positions, and even prior to that, if we wanted to expand we would have to be able to do a reorganization plan that needs to be approved by our HR department and budget and the unions as well as the city administration.”

Once positions are listed, interviewees mentioned that public sector water jobs are often not advertised via popular hiring websites, and that advertising is not standardized across departments, which can lead to confusion and fewer applicants. Some also pointed to the challenge that the water sector is not generally understood as a career path. A civil society interviewee shared their perspective on this, saying: “Kids don’t know they can get jobs working water- one, they don’t think it’s important, and then they don’t know there’s work to do about it.”

When applicants do apply, long application processing times often pose a barrier to hiring. In the words of a civil society interviewee: “The bureaucracy of it all… the amount of rigmarole you have to go through to be hired by the state is absurd. The length of time it takes you basically have to be independently wealthy to survive on your own because it takes so long.” Interviewees did not tend to blame the HR departments for this, as they understood many of them were understaffed as well, but rather pointed to larger structural issues within government agencies that caused this phenomenon. One state respondent shared their experience hiring for engineering positions by saying, “… if there are four names on the list, I will start calling and asking if people want interviews the day I get the list, and almost every single one of them already has a job.”

Institutional Culture

Finally, the institutional culture of the public sector agencies can present another barrier contributing to vacancies and retention issues. Interviewees discussed that job descriptions are often biased against, or do not appeal to local candidates, either because they do not include lived experience as valid qualifications, or they do not include appealing language that helps potential candidates clearly understand the role of different positions. To illustrate this, one private sector interviewee with extensive government experience explained, “you might have somebody that’s… willing to learn on the job and has a passion and is committed to stay. But they don’t even know that this is an opportunity for them.” They suggest this could be addressed by: “being more explicit about their function in the title. You know, it’s not just a hydrologist, you know, [it’s] mālama wai or you know, like caring for water.”

Additionally, interviewees discussed vacancy and retention issues in relation to the colonial nature of many agencies. One private sector interviewee with government experience described the formation of a major state agency during the territorial era: “the very genealogy of [state organization] is, we are the experts, and our primary job is to manage these resources on your behalf. And to the degree that you want to be part of this, we would love your praise and support and your funding and co-management.”

Similarly, an interviewee with decades of experience in a federal agency recounted their experience when first trying to join this agency at the beginning of their career in the 1980s. They shared:

“The people who were in charge of the [federal agency] at the time did not believe anybody who was educated here was actually adequately educated, nor did they feel that anyone who is from here deserve to have a job here in the sense of that they had better people that came from the continent that could fill these positions. And most of us who were local born and raised here, most of us couldn’t get permanent positions. So that made it really difficult because, like most local people, this is home and leaving was not something- other than to go to school, but always expected to come home and work. [It] became a very difficult thing because it became like a non-starter, a non-option. So I had to work my way all the way around to be able to come back home. And I always felt that that was wrong. It was inappropriate and unfair.”

Strategies to address vacancy and retention challenges issues

“I can bring, you know, pizza on Fridays and try to send staff to every conference there is, but ultimately, you want to be paid enough so they can pay that high cost of living in Hawai‘i.”
~ County interviewee

Agencies and other organizations have a variety of strategies to address vacancy and retention challenges, but few directly address the major challenge of low compensation. Strategies used include adjusting minimum qualifications for positions, creating new position types, increasing pay, innovative recruitment techniques, temporary hiring practices to combat long application processing timelines, and attempting to create a supportive and mission driven work environment.

Recruitment

Interviewees discussed how their agencies and organizations have worked to address vacancy challenges through adjusting minimum qualifications and job descriptions. For example, one county interviewee discussed changes in their minimum qualifications for a position saying, “We did work with HR a few years ago, [so] now… as long as you have a college degree in environmental fields… they could qualify as a environmental tech[nician], without any experience.”

Similarly, various interviewees shared how they addressed large numbers of engineering vacancies by dividing engineering vacancies into ‘engineer’ and ‘engineer support technicians’, the former requiring an engineering degree, and the latter requiring either a high school diploma or a 2-year degree. A federal interviewee shared that this seemingly small change can “actually help with a lot of the administrative processes,” because it allows the “engineer to be freed up to focus on technical issues.” Another way that interviewees discussed adjusting minimum qualifications is through hiring individuals who may not have all of the required qualifications, and then training them on the job.

To address slow hiring processes, interviewees discussed workarounds such as using temporary hiring processes. Examples included =89-day hires, flex hires with salary increases, internships with external funding, and hiring through the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i which allow candidates to begin working in a temporary capacity while long screening and hiring processes are completed.

In a 2025 follow up discussion, a county representative shared that Maui County and the City and County of Honolulu have recently been successful in raising the pay scale for engineering positions and this has led to a significant increase in engineering hires.

Another strategy interviewees mentioned is increasing recruitment efforts. This included outreach efforts in schools and other venues to provide opportunities for young people to learn about the water cycle and jobs in the water sector, so they can begin to see themselves as future caretakers of water. Others work with professors at UH to help identify students who would be good candidates for upcoming vacancies.

Many interviewees spoke of intensive efforts to increase access to water and environment careers for women and for people from Hawai‘i. One federal interviewee described their motivation for continuing to mentor and advocate for kanaka and kama‘āina professionals in federal agencies and beyond: “most of my first 20 years of my career, wherever I went, I was probably the first and only woman or person of a different background than the traditional person. It was very tough… And so that’s kind of what inspired me.” They went on to explain how their difficult experiences led them to dedicate a large part of their career to helping other local candidates build careers in this agency, and that things have significantly improved since then.

Some agencies and organizations utilized apprenticeship and internship programs to find good candidates and get them in the door soon after graduation. Existing workforce development efforts at the agencies and organizations interviewed include:

• Honolulu Board of Water Supply: Summer Watership Program provides opportunities for college students to gain experience in engineering, planning, watershed protection, hydraulic modeling, data analysis, and more. This program has been very successful for onboarding and retaining in particular new engineers; Pipefitters internship program; Agreement with Honolulu Community College on an Engineering Support Tech and apprenticeship program; Creating contract professional trainee positions.
• Hawai‘i County Department of Water Supply: Program with summer paid student positions, usually around six positions per year. There is interest in strengthening the pathways between student positions and future employment.
• City & County of Honolulu Stormwater: Have been running internal internship opportunities informally, rather than a centralized formal program. These have some connectivity to UH students and professors in recruitment.
• City & County of Honolulu Environmental Services: Participates in the Po‘okela Internship Program. This program is run across the city which places college students under the mentorship of City department and agencies through a paid internship. The program does have a track record of participants becoming civil service employees.
• City & County of Honolulu Environmental Services: The Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Trainee Program provides 15 weeks of classroom and field training to develop the requisite skills, experience, and knowledge needed to help candidates looking to join the City and County of Honolulu workforce meet the minimum qualifications of the Assistant Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator position, and assist with earning a Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator certification.
• DLNR: Partners with Kupu to hire early career professionals in one year internship opportunities hosted by various divisions.
• DOH: Association of Public Health Laboratories runs a Public Heal​th Laboratory Fellowship Program placing fellows with host laboratories. These are forty hour a week positions generally for one to two years. Fellowships support a range of public health laboratory program areas, including: bioinformatics, biosafety and biosecurity, emergency preparedness and response, environmental health, infectious disease, informatics, food safety, newborn screening, and quality management.
• NAVFAC: Offers the Leadership Development Program to provide learning opportunities including formal leadership training, mentorship, and rotational assignments. Provides a track for continued advancement and promotion.
• USGS: Developed a cooperative agreement with the University of Hawai’i through the Water Resources Research Center which allows for student employment on USGS projects and working with USGS teams.
• WAI: Runs the Work-4-Water program, an entry-level wastewater training course designed to inspire local Hawai‘i participants to create their own paths within the wastewater industry.

Retention

Mentoring and professional development is an important strategy mentioned by interviewees, particularly for addressing retention issues. This can include supporting employees in pursuing research on topics that are interesting to them or allowing them to be more involved on projects that they are passionate about. One county interviewee who shared they had excellent retention explained that they support staff in pursuing their own research and other interests as a part of their jobs. They went on to say, “I think it adds to our overall body of knowledge at the board and in the community itself. It’s good for your professional growth and it also helps you stay engaged with your career here.”

Other interviewees similarly shared that they try to provide support for employees to attend conferences or other professional development experiences whenever possible. Additionally, prioritizing internal promotions is another way that was mentioned as a strategy to help with retention. Other interviewees shared how they added training programs to help address vacancies. One private sector interviewee shared about the program they developed for wastewater in particular saying, “I started an internal training program for us, people that we bring in, it’s very comprehensive– 13 weeks full time for new employees to get them ready to pass their first license exam and be ready to work in any of our treatment plants.”

Another strategy for supporting retention shared by interviewees is creating a supportive, mission-driven work environment that offers flexibility and recognizes the people who work there as “whole people.” A state interviewee shared their perspective, saying that they are “trying to be flexible with people’s lives knowing that a lot of these jobs are pretty inflexible, inherently.” As for the mission-driven work, another state interviewee reflected on its importance to their employees saying, “I think people tend to stay there because they like what they do, it’s public [service], they feel they have a mission, and they’re helping out with that mission. So a lot of them will stay.”

3.4. Ideas for UH education and career pathways

Needed skill sets

Interviewees broadly emphasized a need for: strong technical training, a well-rounded understanding of water, good communication and public engagement skills, and strong project management and critical thinking abilities (Table 2).

Technical Skills and Training

Interviewees discussed the importance of supporting and increasing opportunities for degrees in technical fields including hydrology, hydrogeology, engineering, earth sciences, aquatic biology and ecology, and environmental science. Given the highly technical nature of many water sector positions, many participants pointed to the need for people with expertise and bachelors and graduate degrees in fields including hydrology, hydrogeology, aquatic biology and ecology, and engineering (especially civil) (see Table 2 for additional needed fields). Many also pointed to a need for students to have expertise in emerging challenges including water quality testing for Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), jet fuel, and other contaminants.

There are also many positions that require a high school or associate’s degree as the highest educational level, including engineering technicians and water system operators. These positions require practical skills including, understanding of water systems, electronics, being handy and able to work in high pressure conditions, etc., and would benefit most from specialized apprenticeship-type training programs (Table 2). Many interviewees, particularly in state and county agencies, suggested the importance of continuing 2-year degree and apprenticeship programs in areas like construction, construction management, etc.

Well-Rounded Understanding of Water           

While there is strong sentiment that technical degrees are critical to the future of water management, many also expressed the need for people working in the water sector to have a well-rounded understanding of water. On an institutional level, this includes hiring employees with a diversity of skill sets and expertise, which can be beneficial to an agency or organization’s day-to-day operations and decision making processes. In the words of a state interviewee, “it helps us to have a diversity of educational backgrounds and focuses so whereas one person may understand the technical aspects of weld drilling, another person may have more experience in urban planning, or the technical side of hydrogeology.”

A private sector interviewee with a long-standing career in water expressed the importance of a holistic understanding of water:

“I think the more holistic we are in our training and understanding around water, the stronger our workforce is, no matter what hat in the water sector you’re in. Whether you’re a water system operator, whether you’re a forester and our uplands, where you’re out in our oceans, managing, you know, our coral reef ecosystems, like understanding all of the moving pieces of wai in this in our ahupua‘a, in our island setting, it really gives you an understanding of how you fit in, and you don’t have to do everything, but at least you know how you’re connected to that system.”

Interviewees felt that it is important for water professionals, regardless of their occupation, to understand key scientific concepts such as the water cycle, nitrogen cycle, and basic engineering and hydrology principles. At the same time, as part of the water sector, many interviewees noted the importance of having a basic understanding of key concepts such as the history of water in Hawai‘i, political and regulatory systems, Native Hawaiian cultural uses and rights to water, and the relationship between water stewardship and other systems in Hawai‘i. In discussing their organizational needs, a private sector interviewee describes their ideal candidate as someone who understand watersheds and resource management, and who is also “culturally rooted or has that connection to water, whether or not they get a Hawaiian studies degree to do that, but at least [has] those kinds of connections and perspectives… and to the extent [they] can, also understands the legal landscape regarding water.”

Communication and community engagement

Interviewees pointed to the importance of water sector professionals having strong oral and written communication skills. A federal sector interviewee explained:

“Being able to effectively communicate your science, that’s something that we really pride ourselves in. Effectively working in a team too, that’s every day, because there [are] so many pieces of our research where… you’re the specialists on this component, but then you’re passing it to someone else, and you’re trying to weave it all into this consistent story and document it.”

Many positions in water require public and community engagement expertise, which some interviewees felt like could be learned, whereas others emphasized that some of this really comes from lived experience. A civil society interviewee pointed to the importance of lived experience working and living with the communities the water sector serves as a critical part of good communication: “cultural competency, I guess, is basically what I’m saying. I feel like water science, […] that can be taught, but cultural competency cannot be taught.”

Another civil society interviewee from an umbrella organization working with ‘āina-based organizations similarly explained:

“…I think that there is a lot to be said from lived experience in efforts that require healthy freshwater resources… you don’t just want somebody who has a background in hydrology, for example, you want them to have the background in hydrology and also strong skill sets communicating with a diverse suite of audiences who rely on healthy water resources.”

Project Management and Critical Thinking Skills

Interviewees mentioned the need for members of the water sector to have good project management and logistics skills. This includes, among many other things, the ability to effectively manage one’s time, take a project from start to finish, utilize systems-level thinking, and problem-solve. In the words of a federal agency representative: “Critical thinking is important because we have such hard problems that need people that can sit back and think about what the possible solutions are, and collaborate, and work cross-disciplinarily, rather than just plug and chug the equations to get the answer.” In a related sentiment, a private sector interviewee stated: “In water work, you have to be really, really flexible… it’s water, right? It’s fluid. So being able to go where you need to go and support systems where you need to is really, really critical.”

Table 2: Needed skills for water sector positions as identified by water sector interviewees.

Technical skills

Skills relevant for positions requiring bachelor’s degrees and higher, such as hydrologists, engineers, water resource planners, and biological technicians. Hydrology Hydrogeology Engineering (especially civil) GIS Statistics Coding (especially Python) Environmental science Urban planning Data analysis Biology and Ecology Chemistry Climate change projections Environmental restoration Proficiency in lab management softwares Skills relevant for positions requiring a high school or associate’s degree such as engineer technicians, water system operators, and irrigation technicians Experience working with electronics Basic repair skills Ability to work under high pressure and high risk times conditions (such as using heavy equipment to fix leaks or malfunctions)

Holistic Understanding of Water

Nitrogen cycle Water cycle Basic engineering principles Basic hydrology principles History of water in Hawai’i Political and regulatory systems Water law Native Hawaiian cultural uses and rights to water The relationship between water stewardship and other systems in Hawai‘i

Communication & Community Engagement

Public speaking and writing for diverse audiences Place-based knowledge and lived experience critical to understanding the needs of local communities and incorporate cultural practices into water stewardship Plain language communication Science communication skills Internal communication and collaboration in teams Grant writing

Project Management & Critical Thinking

Project management and logistics skills Time management Systems level thinking Problem solving skills

Ideas for UH educational and career pathways

Mirroring the skills needed section, interviewees emphasized the importance of technical degrees coupled with coursework that would enhance broad understanding of water and natural resource management from a political, cultural, and legal perspective. An interviewee with a long career in state government pointed to the importance of allowing students to explore a diversity of topics to see what they are both good at and passionate about.

This includes specific coursework in:

• Water law and Native Hawaiian water rights
• Environmental regulation and law – e.g. Clean Water Act and Hawai‘i pollution control laws and rules
• Political Science, including understanding of power dynamics
• History of water in Hawai’i
• Hydrology and hydrogeology
• Aquatic ecology
• Stormwater infrastructure

Coursework that connects theory and practice was seen as particularly valuable. For example, a civil society interviewee explained how as a student they gained value from: “course content that immediately responded to needs that they were seeing in the communities in resource management circles.”

Many also pointed to the importance of communications training, including communicating to diverse audiences and across generations, as well as coursework enhancing project management skills. Likewise, many emphasized the importance of pairing classroom learning with hands-on experience to support development of leadership and community and public engagement skills (e.g. how to run a public meeting.)

Most interviewees were interested in engaging in further discussion of developing career development pathways. Many emphasized the need to expand the range of internships to fields including business and public health and to pay liveable wages. A state agency representative additionally pointed to the importance of promoting civil service careers: “The UH engineering school only promotes construction and design so many graduates want to work for contractors and consultants. UH needs programs from freshman year to promote civil service as an option to a rewarding and fulfilling career path.” Similarly, an interviewee who has held various leadership programs across state and civil society organizations, emphasized that “UH needs to work on training local people not only to be the workers, but to become the leaders and next generation of professors.”

Some potential career pathways ideas discussed across interviews include:

• Formal internship and student worker programs
• Practical certificates in water management
• Field experiences in water
• Opportunities for practical learning and skill development in water management, even for those without advanced degrees, through apprenticeships and certifications
• Internships with livable wages
• Internships with monthly rotations to different departments within and across agencies
• Pipeline to bring students from the university into permanent positions at government agencies (Berkeley/East Bay Mud pipeline as an example)

We asked interviewees how they thought UH could help students build pilina with wai and the wai community. Interviewees suggested that this could be best done through internships, apprenticeships, and community involvement. A civil society interviewee emphasized the importance of providing opportunities for students to make connections that could lead to future opportunities: “I think you can plan for serendipity, you know, in the lives of other young people.”

Community involvement ideas from interviewees include volunteering, creating or joining clubs that specialize in interests such as mālama wai or conservation, participating in collaborative research such as water testing, participating in practicums or fieldwork that place them in the community (ideally as part of the UH curriculum), and having more field trips and site visits in classes. A federal interviewee explains how these hands-on experiences can help create a “core memory” related to ‘āina and wai for students:

“Service projects, getting out and working in the loko i‘a, and in the lo‘i, you know, anything that you really have to sweat for, gives you kind of that extra connection to and forms that core memory. And then a lot of times the groups that host those sort of work days do a great job of kind of talking about the place that you’re in and how they themselves are connected to it. And then even, you know, maybe getting to eat some of the kalo from the place that you were just working in, you know, I think experiences like that help to form that relationship, if it’s not already there for students.”

UH Role as a Facilitator and Convener for the Water Sector

Many interviewees emphasized that UH can and should play an important role as a convener for discussions and planning about water futures in Hawai‘i. Interviewees mentioned a range of potential efforts that the university could host, from doing water testing for new wastewater systems to helping with grant management for community research projects to fostering closer working relationships between water professionals, academic professionals and students. Some interviewees expressed that they felt UH could take advantage of its role as an academic institution and help to build bridges between the many siloed sections of the water sector, by helping bring people together for discussions and collaboration, and by more actively engaging in community efforts related to water management.

Several interviewees referred to the Water Resources Research Center in particular as a place with a lot of potential to serve as a coordinator for collaboration in the water sector, whereas others spoke more broadly about the potential of UH as a whole to address water issues. In the words of a civil society interviewee: “I want to set up a system where the University of Hawai‘i is studying water like the University of Chicago is studying fusion… that level of passion and that level of funding.”

Other interviewees recommended that UH play a role in hosting more events on water topics that offer a social aspect such as a pau hana afterwards to give attendees a chance to get to know each other and also motivate busy students to stay longer. They also recommended that students attend professional water conferences to build their professional networks and expand their understanding on various wai-related topics. There was also a sentiment that UH could help provide forums to create an: “ecosystem of collaboration and communication between the different water resource professionals.”

Finally, a number of interviewees pointed to the importance of building relationships between UH professors and agencies and community organizations. Interviewees discussed how working relationships can allow for better research co-production and involvement of students in research. Suggestions also included that UH conduct regular surveys to agencies and organizations to remain updated on their most important needs and position requirements, and that UH create a list of designated faculty contacts for organizations or agencies to contact when looking to hire or collaborate. Others pointed to the importance of UH focusing on hiring professors who understand the importance of serving Hawai‘i and putting the onus on them to develop close working relationships with those on the management side who are very time limited.

Key Insights

The following are key takeaways from the first phase of this research focused on interviews with the water sector. Takeaways are based on perceptions of interviewees and are subject to revision with further discussion and research.

1. Representatives from the water sector are broadly motivated by public service and responsibility and connection to their community:
   • Many are inspired by formative early experiences and relationships with water and the environment.
   • Most paths were nonlinear; many serendipitously ‘stumbled’ on a career in water, and found deep meaning and importance in the field once they arrived.
2. Interviewees identified low pay and limited advancement opportunities as key factors contributing to vacancies and retention challenges, particularly for engineering positions at state and county agencies.
   • Hawai‘i’s high cost of living presents a challenge for both recruitment and retention of water sector employees.
   • Limited opportunities for advancement, particularly in state and county agencies, often leads to employees moving to the federal or private sector or leaving Hawai‘i.
   • Some interviewees that have been successful in raising pay rates (particularly for engineering positions) have seen these changes significantly reduce vacancy rates.
3. Interviewees suggested there is a limited applicant pool for some positions, including engineers, hydrogeologists, aquatic biologists, and that there is a need for more training in these areas.
   • UH can play an important role in supporting and expanding needed technical degrees and skills.
4. Limited awareness and advertising of job opportunities coupled with slow HR processes also presents a challenge to hiring. Some agencies are tackling these challenges through outreach and hiring workarounds.
   • There is a need to increase awareness of career pathways in water.
   • Some agencies are working to increase awareness of water jobs through outreach and internships.
   • Some agencies are exploring workarounds such as temporary hires and hiring through the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii.
5. Some interviewees perceived that institutional culture and position descriptions do not always effectively support the recruitment and retention of local candidates with lived experiences and interest in mālama‘āina careers. Some agencies have worked and continue to work on:
   • Broadening job descriptions to include lived experiences and create new pathways such as engineering technicians that require less formal academic training
   • Mentoring and professional development as well as prioritizing internal promotion as retention strategies
   • Creating a supportive, mission-oriented work environment
6. Interviewees pointed to a need for both strong technical training and well-rounded understanding of water.
   • Water management will always require graduates with strong technical training in fields such as engineering, hydrogeology, aquatic biology, etc.
   • There is also a need for well-rounded understanding of water that includes understanding of the hydrological, ecological, political, and cultural dimensions of water
7. UH has an important role to play as a convener and in doing applied policy relevant research
   • UH can help build pilina through internships, apprenticeships, and community engagement.
8. Nearly all interviewees were interested in further discussing career pathway development with UH and other wai community members

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Hawaiian Islands Environmental Finance Center of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation for their support of this work and all those who gave their time and insight to this report through interviews and workshop engagement including representatives from:

Ahupua‘a Accelerator Initiative
Department of Environmental Services, City and County of Honolulu
Department of Hawaiian Homelands
Department of Land and Natural Resources, Commission on Water Resource Management
Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources
Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife
Department of Water Supply, County of Hawai‘i
Department of Water Supply, County of Maui
Earth Justice
Hawai’i Community Foundation
Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance
Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture
Hawai‘i Rural Water Association
Hawai‘i State Department of Health
Honolulu Board of Water Supply
Honolulu Weather Forecast Office
Kahalawai Consulting
Kamehameha Schools
Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo
Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command
One World Water
Sierra Club
Storm Water Quality Division, City and County of Honolulu
The Nature Conservancy
Townscape Inc.
Ulupono Initiative
United State Environmental Protection Agency
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Geological Survey
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations

We also thank Carter Beale, Sharde Freitas, Liat Portner, Bryceson Tugade, and Ming Li Yong for facilitation support during the December 2024 workshop.

Citations

Beamer, Kamanamaikalani (Ed; 2025). Waiwai: Water and the Future of Hawai‘i. University of Hawai‘i Press.

Hau‘oli Mau Loa Foundation, The Nature Conservancy Hawai‘i, & SMS Research Hawai‘i. (2024). Characterizing Hawai‘i’s natural resources management sector: Jobs, education, salaries, and expenditures [2023 Green jobs report]. Hau‘oli Mau Loa Foundation.

Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance. (2024). Growth & retention of Hawai‘i’s local workforce for biocultural resources conservation [Position paper]. Hawai‘i Conservation Alliance.

Hawai‘i Workforce Funders Collaborative (2025). From Crisis to Opportunity: Building Hawai‘i’s Workforce Resilience. https://www.hawaiiwork.org/reports/from-crisis-to-opportunity

Kupu & SMS Research Hawai‘i. (2023, December). Natural resources careers in Hawai‘i [Natural Resources Careers Report]. Kupu.

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