How To Become A Drainage Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a drainage engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Andrea Welker Ph.D.

It might not seem obvious, but properly functioning water drainage and sewage systems play a vital role in our modern society. Without well-designed, properly maintained systems, communities could experience flooding and water reserves could become tainted with chemicals. Drainage engineers are the ones prevent these disasters by giving our communities properly functioning systems.

They are responsible for the proper construction of drainage systems and sewage. As skilled engineers, they specialize in creating blueprints and implementing improvements of water drainage systems.

Drainage engineers also must spend a lot of time at the construction sites, overseeing the system construction to make sure it's done properly. They are also responsible for maintaining and repairing the system. In order to design an effective system, the drainage engineer needs to be able to use computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) software to help them design and simulate structures and ditches. They must also have advanced knowledge of physics, fluidity, and math.

To become a drainage engineer, you'll typically need a Bachelor's degree in civil, environmental or water resources engineering. In addition, registration as a professional engineer (PE) is often preferred.

What general advice would you give to a drainage engineer?

Andrea Welker Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Villanova University

Be open to new experiences. Find a good mentor. Become a valued employee. Always remember that you are designing something for someone.

ScoreDrainage EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,313

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 12.81%

Black or African American 4.00%

Hispanic or Latino 11.71%

Unknown 4.69%

White 66.48%

Gender

female 12.50%

male 87.50%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a drainage engineer

Explore drainage engineer education requirements

Most common drainage engineer degrees

Bachelor's

75.5 %

Master's

20.4 %

Doctorate

2.0 %

Start to develop specific drainage engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Hec Ras	26.10%
HEC-RAS	11.50%
Autocad	11.20%
Engineering Design	7.02%
Cost Estimates	5.03%

Complete relevant drainage engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New drainage engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a drainage engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real drainage engineer resumes.

Research drainage engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage a geotechnical investigation that include determining boring locations and soliciting bids.
Perform slope stability drilling investigations, site inspection and supervision of slope stabilization construction of berms and concrete caisson piles.
Finalize designs and calculations for a stormwater conveyance system and stormwater detention basins for a new power plant in Pennsylvania.
Assist site supervisors in the evaluation of submittals, RFI's if require.

Get drainage engineer experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a drainage engineer. The most common roles before becoming a drainage engineer include civil engineer, project engineer team lead and design engineer.

Prepare your drainage engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your drainage engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a drainage engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable drainage engineer resume templates

Build a professional drainage engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your drainage engineer resume.