Water/Wastewater Engineers

design water project operation investigative environmental documentation wastewater treatment plant system engineering new water resource

Consulting Engineer, County Engineer, Engineer, Project Development Engineer

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.
On the job, you would:
  • 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.

Knowledge

Engineering and Technology

  • product and service development
  • design

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Math and Science

  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
  • physics

Business

  • management

Skills

Basic Skills

  • reading work related information
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem

People and Technology Systems

  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Abilities

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • communicate by writing

Ideas and Logic

  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
  • order or arrange things

Math

  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem
  • add, subtract, multiply, or divide

Attention

  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

They do well at jobs that need:

  • Analytical Thinking
  • Attention to Detail
  • Integrity
  • Dependability
  • Cooperation
  • Initiative

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Computer aided design CAD software

  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D Hot Technology In Demand
  • Autodesk Revit Hot Technology

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint Hot Technology

Analytical or scientific software

  • Minitab
  • NIWA Tideda

Education

Education: (rated 4 of 5)
bachelor's degree or
master's degree
usually needed

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Job Outlook

Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about water/wastewater engineers.