The Biggest Challenge in Water Treatment Isn’t What You Think

For years, one challenge has dominated conversations about the future of water treatment: staffing.

The industry is losing experienced operators, plants are struggling to recruit the next generation, and institutional knowledge is walking out the door.

Those challenges haven’t disappeared.

But when 1,614 water and wastewater professionals told us what is making their jobs hardest right now, something else rose to the top.

Aging equipment and infrastructure.

Nearly one-third of respondents identified aging equipment and infrastructure as a top operational challenge. They ranked it ahead of staffing shortages, regulatory pressure, rising energy costs, and budget constraints.

Of course, these challenges don’t exist in isolation. Budget constraints can make it difficult for facilities to replace aging equipment, leaving operators to keep older systems running longer than originally intended. The result is a compounding challenge: as infrastructure ages, the resources needed to maintain its reliability become even more critical.

That finding became the starting point for WesTech’s new 2026 State of Water Treatment Operations Report: The Reliability Crisis.

And the deeper we looked into the responses, the clearer the story became.

Reliability is Becoming the Industry’s Defining Challenge

Aging infrastructure isn’t simply an equipment problem.

When critical systems become less reliable, maintenance demands increase, replacement parts become more urgent, and specialized expertise becomes more important. Unexpected failures put even more pressure on already stretched operations teams.

And that pressure appears to be changing what operators expect from the companies they work with.

Price Isn’t What Makes Operators Leave

One of the most revealing findings came when we asked what would cause operators to switch equipment suppliers.

The leading answer wasn’t a lower price from a competitor.

It was poor service or slow response to problems.

Parts availability, equipment reliability, technical expertise, and communication also ranked prominently.

Taken together, the responses point toward a different way of thinking about supplier relationships.

Operators aren’t simply comparing the upfront cost of equipment. They’re evaluating the total value behind that investment: the equipment itself, its long-term reliability, the service and support that come with it, and the company standing behind it.

When something goes wrong, how quickly can someone help?

Can they get the part they need? Can they get it on time?

Can they reach someone who understands the equipment?

Will that support still be there five, 10, or 20 years later?

In an environment where reliability is increasingly difficult to maintain, those questions matter.

Operators Are Asking Suppliers to Become More Proactive

Perhaps the most interesting part of the research wasn’t found in a multiple-choice question.

We analyzed 1,416 written responses from operators describing the one resource they wished equipment suppliers would provide to make their jobs easier.

Again and again, the answers pointed toward support that helps operators identify and solve problems before they become failures.

The message wasn’t simply, “Give us better equipment.”

It was closer to: “Help us keep the equipment we already have running.”

That distinction may become increasingly important as the industry looks ahead and it’s a message suppliers, including WesTech, need to take seriously. The findings point to an opportunity to provide more proactive support throughout the life of equipment, from routine check-ins and preventative maintenance to better monitoring and service programs that help operators identify issues before they become disruptions.

For WesTech, the research provides a clearer picture of where we can continue improving the support we provide after installation. Meeting the industry’s reliability challenge won’t just require better equipment. It will require finding better ways to help operators keep that equipment performing over the long term.

See What 1,614 Water Treatment Professionals Told Us

The 2026 State of Water Treatment Operations Report explores what operators told us about:

• The industry’s biggest operational challenges
• Which equipment creates the most maintenance pressure
• What operators value when selecting suppliers
• Why they switch equipment providers
• What they wish suppliers did differently
• The emerging challenges they’re preparing for over the next several years