There’s nothing more refreshing than a glass of cold water on a hot day, or a steaming cup of tea on a cold winter night. We count on water resource specialists to make sure our water supply is clean, safe, and accessible, so we can sustain ourselves and our daily activities. It may surprise you to learn of the complexity of our water supply regulation. Water resource specialists are called in to investigate many different situations. For example if wastewater discharge appears to violate health and safety standards, or proper permits aren’t in order, or where water storage practices are called in to question, these specialists are often needed. To identify the source of the problem, they use mathematical equations that predict pollution levels in water and anticipate the behavior of sewer and storm systems. They may also create visual models to represent these results. Water resource specialists also monitor water supply sources to meet conservation goals, so there will be a robust water supply in the future. A bachelor’s degree or higher in Water Resources Engineering or a related field is the typical entry requirement. A background in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is a plus.
What they do:
Design or implement programs and strategies related to water resource issues such as supply, quality, and regulatory compliance issues.
On the job, you would:
Perform hydrologic, hydraulic, or water quality modeling.
Conduct, or oversee the conduct of, investigations on matters such as water storage, wastewater discharge, pollutants, permits, or other compliance and regulatory issues.
Develop plans to protect watershed health or rehabilitate watersheds.
Engineering and Technology
product and service development
design
Math and Science
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
physics
Arts and Humanities
English language
Business
customer service
Basic Skills
reading work related information
listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Problem Solving
noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it
measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it
Verbal
read and understand what is written
listen and understand what people say
Ideas and Logic
make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
notice when problems happen
Math
choose the right type of math to solve a problem
add, subtract, multiply, or divide
Attention
pay attention to something without being distracted
People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.
They do well at jobs that need:
Analytical Thinking
Integrity
Attention to Detail
Dependability
Achievement/Effort
Cooperation
You might use software like this on the job:
Analytical or scientific software
MWH Soft H2ONET MSX
Wallingford Software InfoWater
Map creation software
ESRI ArcGIS software
Google Earth Pro
Data base user interface and query software
Database software
Structured query language SQL
bachelor's degree or master's degree usually needed
Get started on your career:
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
$123,860
$65,000
$208,000+
You might like a career in one of these industries:
In the military:
see titles from the Army or Marine Corps.
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