Students toured Calala Water Treatment Plant for career day

"It's definitely a consideration now," the Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School student said of his interest in engineering or planning.

"It wasn't really on the table before but it's something I could think about for my future."

Bailey was among about 50 students from various schools across Tamworth at the Calala Water Treatment Plant on Tuesday, September 6, to learn more about careers in the water industry from leading experts.

Tamworth Regional Council's director of water and waste Bruce Logan said being able to attract and retain workers in the water industry has been an issue for some time.

"We've obviously got engineering positions, but what we're targeting today is more of the operator type level," Mr Logan said.

"But people can be involved in anything from a dam, to water treatment, to reticulation, to providing water to individual houses, trade, waste, there are numerous positions."

Mr Logan said he hopes the students will go back to the classroom and think about pursuing a career in the water industry, whether through work experience, TAFE or tertiary education.

The students were split into four groups for a 20 minute tour of the region's biggest water treatment plant before spending about 30 minutes at each "workshop".

Those workshops included environmental dam sampling, water leakage detection dogs, CCTV demos and drones, laboratory testing for microscopic observations, and a Q and A careers session.

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Carinya Christian School's Ally Gruber, 15, said the biological aspects piqued her interest, especially after looking through the microscope and learning how toxins are eradicated from drinking water.

"I think it's really fascinating because obviously it's incredibly important," Ally said.

Her fellow student at Carinya, Charlie Pollard, 16, said walking around the site to see how everything works - the pipes and check valves, "was quite interesting", and that "it has opened my eyes" into a possible career in the water industry.

But Peel High's Nahum Johnston, 15, was not as convinced, saying although the water detection dog Joey was his all-time favourite, he still had his sights on working as a bricklayer.

Luke Goodhand, 17, from Farrer High, said seeing all the effort that goes into providing clean drinking water has "really given me an insight behind all the work that goes into what seems like such a given".

The day was organised in conjunction with representatives from the NSW Department of Education and the Department of Planning and Environment, and staff from five local councils, including Tamworth, Walcha, Gunnedah, Liverpool Plains, and Gwydir.

Minister for Water Rose Jackson was unable to be in attendance but said via a statement that the NSW government and local councils were "under no illusions about the labour shortfalls in the water industry".

"Particularly in rural areas where populations are small, yet managing and delivering our most precious resource to the tap has never been more important," Ms Jackson said.

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