Does Water Pay?

How does remuneration for water professionals stack up against other “green collar” professions?

On May 11, ECO Canada released Canada’s first Compensation Report specifically for 16 key occupations in the environmental sector.

If the report is similar to ECO Canada’s last survey on environmental employment in 2007, it’ll be difficult for those of us in the water sector to determine if we are being paid fairly in relation to professionals in other “green collar” sectors such as remediation, bioenergy, or air pollution control.  The 2007 survey, which can be found here, focused more on who employed environmental professionals than the compensation spectrum.  For example, the report stated that there were over half a million environmental employees across all industries in Canada and that approximately 10 per cent of organizations across Canada have one or more environmental employee.

From what I gather, the 2009 Compensation Survey is occupation-focused. It provides a detailed comparison of the remuneration of environmental engineers, biologists, chemists, technicians, project managers, and other occupations, but it doesn’t include further analysis. What I’m interested to know is if a senior environmental engineer doing water-related project work is paid more than one doing clean-up of contaminated property, or air pollution control work.

Despite the lack of information directly related to the water industry, the survey is useful for organizations planning on hiring and trying to determine the proper compensation. It will also be valuable to individuals preparing for job interviews that want to provide a reasonable answer to the question: “How much do you expect to be paid?”

It’s important to recognize that there is always room in a company for top talent. Large corporations are always willing to remunerate key employees.  On the flip side, recessions are considered an opportune time to shed “dead wood” from an organization.

Although we don’t all get rich working in the water industry, we may consider our jobs recession-proof.  Those of us focused on hitting a home run can always strike out as entrepreneurs selling a new product, service, or technology, but for water professionals who want to play it safe, there are core jobs in water and wastewater plant operations and with the government.

I’d be interested in hearing if you feel you’re adequately compensated. What do you think?