Attracting people to the water industry is becoming a key challenge - with thousands of extra skilled staff needed to fill job vacancies over the next 30 years.

In this Water New Zealand Tāwara o te Wai podcast, hosts Jon Reed and Emily Afoa spoke to two recent Water New Zealand award winners, Roanna Purcaru, who is the 2025 Young Water Professional of the Year and Jared Esaiah, who won the Trainee of the Year Award at this year’s Water New Zealand Conference and Expo.

They discussed what it was that drove these two successful employees to join the water sector and what could help attract more of the right people to work in water.