ASU’s certificate in water management builds real-world skills for new water workforce

As water systems across the Southwest face mounting pressures ranging from aging infrastructure to water supply challenges, the need for a prepared, adaptable water workforce has never been more urgent.

Arizona State University’s Water Management Certificate was designed to meet this moment, offering a practical, accessible pathway into one of the region’s most critical fields.

Now in its third cohort, the 15-week, noncredit certificate has already enrolled more than 600 learners, with over 1,000 applicants from across the United States. The program brings together working professionals, graduate students, career changers and community members, many of whom are encountering water management as a career option for the first time.

“This program provides an opportunity to expose some learners to the topic for the first time, to deepen knowledge for others and to signal to potential employers that they are building real expertise in the water management space,” said Tye Waggoner, a fellow with ASU’s Learning Enterprise and a co-facilitator of the program.

Offered through ASU’s Career Catalyst program and supported by the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, a statewide project led by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory in collaboration with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the Water Management Certificate is intentionally designed for learners outside the traditional degree pipeline.

It consists of three five-week courses — water technology and development, water resource management, and legal and regulatory compliance in water management — that blend technical fundamentals with applied, real-world context.

Unlike traditional academic courses, the certificate is completion-based, emphasizing flexibility and relevance over exams and grades. Learners move through weekly modules that combine short lectures, interactive graphics, readings from multiple texts and discussion prompts grounded in real scenarios.

“Then, the final assignment asks learners to apply everything they’ve learned either to a hypothetical situation or directly to their own work,” Waggoner said. “That’s where people really start to see how this connects to what they do day to day.”

Another defining feature of the program is its optional live evening sessions — led by ASU Associate Professor Otakuye Conroy-Ben and featuring water-sector experts as guest presenters and speakers — which are scheduled after traditional work hours. These sessions, supported by Learning Enterprise staff, give learners a chance to work through technical concepts and hear directly from water professionals. Recordings remain available throughout the year, allowing participants to revisit material as needed.

“That live component is huge,” Waggoner said. “It turns the course into a community. It’s become a place to ask the questions you don’t always get to ask on the job.”

The learners themselves reflect the broad reach of water management. Past cohorts have included employees from the city of Phoenix, Salt River Project, Southern Nevada Water Authority, Arizona Department of Water Resources, FEMA, Intel, ExxonMobil and mining companies. They also include graduate students, midcareer professionals and municipal employees outside water departments who want to better understand the infrastructure that shapes their work.

“What’s exciting is how varied the backgrounds are,” Waggoner said. “We’ve had people just starting out, people preparing for exams, people who’ve been in the field for decades — and people who didn’t even realize water management was a career option.”

That diversity enriches the learning experience, creating peer-to-peer exchange across sectors and career stages. Learners frequently connect beyond the course through LinkedIn and other professional networks, using digital badges and certificates to signal their growing expertise.

At its core, the Water Management Certificate is a workforce development effort that addresses the growing challenge of a wave of retirements in the water sector that threatens to drain institutional knowledge from critical systems.

Learners consistently point to the program’s practical focus as its greatest value: working through formulas used in certification exams, learning how water facilities operate and gaining fluency in the legal language that governs water decisions.

“We do need knowledgeable people,” Waggoner said. “There are real concerns about expertise aging out of the system. This program helps lower the barrier to entry and gives people a clearer picture of what water work actually looks like.”

Learners describe the certificate as immediately useful, helping experienced professionals stay current while fitting into demanding work schedules. Others say the program sharpened their understanding of water systems and sparked new interests, leaving them energized and better equipped for their work.

Dave White, the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative lead, is excited to see the growth in ASU’s water education offerings.

“The Water Management Certificate joins our Participatory Water Methods course available through Career Catalyst, as well as several other programs that provide entry points to water education,” says White. “We are thrilled to further contribute to Arizona’s water sector workforce development.”

The next cohort of the Water Management Certificate is tentatively planned for summer 2026. Because enrollment is cohort-based rather than rolling, interested learners are encouraged to join the waitlist when registration opens.