Water/Wastewater Engineers
Under the title Water/Wastewater Engineers, workers design or oversee projects involving provision of potable water, disposal of wastewater and sewage, or prevention of flood-related damage. The job can ask you to provide technical direction or supervision to junior engineers, engineering or computer-aided design (CAD) technicians, or other technical personnel. The strongest interest signal is Realistic (5.6 of 7), then Investigative (5.4) and Conventional, which gives it the code RIC. Plan on a bachelor’s degree plus a period of work experience; O*NET labels this considerable preparation. Strength in writing, reading comprehension, and judgment and decision making helps most here. If you want hands-on work with tools, machines or the physical world, keep it on your list. If you need helping, teaching or caring for people, it may feel thin.
What they do
Design or oversee projects involving provision of potable water, disposal of wastewater and sewage, or prevention of flood-related damage. Prepare environmental documentation for water resources, regulatory program compliance, data management and analysis, and field work. Perform hydraulic modeling and pipeline design.
Main tasks
- Provide technical direction or supervision to junior engineers, engineering or computer-aided design (CAD) technicians, or other technical personnel.
- Review and critique proposals, plans, or designs related to water or wastewater treatment systems.
- Design domestic or industrial water or wastewater treatment plants, including advanced facilities with sequencing batch reactors (SBR), membranes, lift stations, headworks, surge overflow basins, ultraviolet disinfection systems, aerobic digesters, sludge lagoons, or control buildings.
- Evaluate the operation and maintenance of water or wastewater systems to identify ways to improve their efficiency.
- Design or select equipment for use in wastewater processing to ensure compliance with government standards.
- Design pumping systems, pumping stations, pipelines, force mains, or sewers for the collection of wastewater.
Skills
- Writing
- Reading Comprehension
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Critical Thinking
- Systems Evaluation
- Systems Analysis
Who this career fits
May suit you if
- You like ending the day with a physical result you can point to.
- You enjoy working out why something happens, not just what happened.
- You are ready to spend around four years on a degree, then build experience.
- You are comfortable relying on writing and reading comprehension.
May not suit you if
- You would rather stay away from physical, hands-on tasks.
- You want helping people to be at the center of your work. Social rates 1.8 out of 7 here.
- You want to avoid a four-year degree or its equivalent.
Interest profile
O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code RIC takes the three highest, and Realistic comes first here.
Preparation
Considerable preparation. Most jobs here ask for a bachelor’s degree, and employers usually expect a few years of related experience as well.
Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Bachelor's Degree. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.
Also called
- Consulting Engineer
- County Engineer
- Engineer
- Project Development Engineer
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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.