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Leaders from Louisville’s water and sewer utilities, transit agency, and workforce development organizations, joined the city’s mayor to release “An Equitable Water Future: Louisville” in partnership with the US Water Alliance. The report “is a roadmap for building equity in Louisville’s infrastructure workforce and contracting practices, so that all residents have an opportunity to enjoy the economic and social benefits resulting from investments in the city’s infrastructure.”

Louisville’s vulnerable communities face a range of challenges related to water, from aging infrastructure to affordability.  Among the report’s recommended actions are changes to procurement and hiring policies, as well as more intensive cross-agency collaboration on workforce and skills training and mentoring potential employees from the city’s vulnerable communities.

The work builds on Louisville’s participation in the 2018 Brookings Institution study, Renewing the Water Workforce, which outlined infrastructure workforce challenges and general recommendations for addressing them. Developed by the U.S. Water Alliance’s Water Equity Taskforce, the report discusses local factors that influence water equity. While the primary focus is on the infrastructure workforce, the report also explores local issues around water affordability, aging infrastructure, flooding and climate impacts, and funding constraints. For each of these areas, the report outlines recommendations that agencies and organizations in Louisville can take to advance equitable water management.

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The report is available at www.uswateralliance.org under the tabs Resources/Publications.