Water shortages, cyber attacks and construction projects worth billions – how the water and wastewater industry will tackle the future

Skills shortages, soaring costs, climate change and cyber threats. These are some of the biggest challenges facing the water and wastewater industry in the coming years. This is according to Erik Winnfors Wannberg, owner and editor in chief of the water and wastewater industry magazine Cirkulation.

He explains that a lot has happened in recent decades. Some of the most significant changes are the increasing specialisation within the industry and the higher level of education of the workforce.

Attracting the right people is key

In the 1960s, during the expansion of society with the Million Programme, many people were employed to manage wastewater treatment plants, public utilities and infrastructure. Employees enjoyed their work and stayed in the same workplace until retirement. With the retirement of people born in the 1940s, the labour force has become more nuanced. This leads to more perspectives and better holistic thinking.

“Another difference is that today there is a greater diversification of occupational groups and women make up a larger proportion of those in the industry,” says Erik Winnfors Wannberg. “This too, provides more perspectives. Ultimately, hopefully you get a better overall picture if the group includes more professions.”

However, one of the biggest challenges facing the sector is further education and training. It’s not just about finding the right people, they also need to be trained correctly.

“The industry needs to improve its ability to attract and train people with the right skills. There is also a need to invest in skills provision and traineeships for those in higher education.”

Huge investment required

Erik Winnfors Wannberg’s knowledge of the industry is extensive. He and colleague Jens Olsson founded the magazine Cirkulation in the early 1990s. Since then, there has been plenty of water under the bridge. Not least when it comes to investments in both old and new water and wastewater treatment plants. Local authorities in particular will need to make substantial investments in the coming years, both in the day-to-day maintenance of water supply networks and the like, and in new construction.

“Funding these investments and adapting them to new tools that can increase efficiency, such as AI applications, is a challenge for local governments.”

The biggest challenge is the cost, which is often extremely high, with investments often totalling several billion kronor.

“The Municipality of Kungsbacka has just set the budget for the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant. It totalled around SEK 1.5 billion. And Kungsbacka is not even one of Sweden’s largest municipalities.”

More people are investing with a climate smart perspective

The industry organisation Svenskt Vatten brings together Sweden’s most important water and wastewater organisations. It has a goal of achieving climate-neutral water and wastewater by 2030. As Sweden’s water and wastewater treatment plants often date from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, in many cases they need to be completely replaced. Furthermore, climate change requires new solutions to address water scarcity and extreme weather events. At the same time, there are a lot of exciting things happening in the industry right now, explains Erik Winnfors Wannberg.

“It is encouraging that more industry operators are starting to take climate issues into account in their projects. For example, new technologies and improved monitoring can increase the efficiency and safety of water treatment. Digitalisation can optimise the operation and maintenance of water and wastewater systems, and climate-smart solutions such as recycled materials and machinery run on electricity can also reduce the industry’s environmental impact.”

Erik Winnfors Wannberg believes that we are facing many new technical challenges with new requirements for the treatment of both wastewater and drinking water. At the same time, we are also seeing new security requirements, a new security mindset and a new threat landscape. Viewed together, the situation poses the risk that the industry could make things more difficult for itself if it were to tackle only one issue at a time. Climate issues, new treatment requirements, increasing security requirements and the capacity to produce more water must be addressed as a whole.

IT security becoming increasingly important

“One example is combining technology choices for new treatment requirements that must also be climate-neutral. It’s not enough to just pile issue after issue on top of each other; you need to look at the bigger picture. It is the same with security thinking: building separately is difficult and instead new developments must be integrated as systems change. Here, my personal concern is that it is sometimes easy to strain gnats and swallow camels, so to speak. You focus solely on a lot of small things that are easy to fix and maybe not on the biggest threats.”

IT security, for example. This is one threat that should not be underestimated, according to Erik Winnfors Wannberg.

“Municipalities and municipal companies are often exposed to cyber attacks with the risk of hijacking and extortion of IT systems. This is also likely to be the case for businesses linked to the water and wastewater industry. Furthermore, there is a risk that hijackings could be used for terrorist purposes. So cyber security is super important, and there is a lot of room for improvement,” he concludes.

Vattenindustrin, along with the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre, is organising Vatten2025: Sweden’s largest meeting place for the water and wastewater industry and an important event for exploring the challenges of both today and tomorrow. The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in Gothenburg will be hosting this inspiring meeting place on 21–23 October 2025, and we look forward to seeing you there! 

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VATTEN2025