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

What is a wastewater engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Edoardo Sarda Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a wastewater engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.64 an hour? That's $84,524 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 1,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a wastewater engineer?

Edoardo Sarda Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Robotics Engineering, Lake Superior State University

Flexibility has become a key asset for new graduates, due to the current COVID19 pandemic. Fortunately, engineers are still in high demand. Even fresh graduates may need to seek opportunities and accept positions working in areas that were not exactly what they had in mind while in college. Besides, the pandemic has created a reality where specific industries are struggling while others are booming. That will undoubtedly impact the demand for new engineers. Lastly, since the United States took a non-uniform approach to fight the pandemic, where every state is independently deciding how to reopen, leading to some states being stricter than others, in addition to new epicenters forming in different areas of the country at different times, new grads may not necessarily end up in the geographical location they may have originally planned.

ScoreWastewater EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,524

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42%

Asian 10.60%

Black or African American 1.87%

Hispanic or Latino 7.69%

Unknown 3.74%

White 75.68%

Gender

female 26.32%

male 73.68%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a wastewater engineer

Explore wastewater engineer education requirements

Most common wastewater engineer degrees

Bachelor's

65.4 %

Master's

26.9 %

Doctorate

3.8 %

Start to develop specific wastewater engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Treatment Facilities	35.79%
Conveyance	23.92%
Treatment Plant	19.05%
Project Delivery	6.57%
Contract Drawings	4.52%

Complete relevant wastewater engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New wastewater 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 wastewater engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real wastewater engineer resumes.

Research wastewater engineer duties and responsibilities

Create and manage comprehensive database of groundwater production assets.
Monitor potable pilot plant for chlorination/dechlorination technologies including ozone, UV, chlorine gas/liquid emulsions, and peroxide.
Develop system sequence and interlock definition documentation for support of operating procedures and DCS system development.

Apply for wastewater engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a wastewater engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do wastewater engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Wastewater engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Cons

very little

A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019

Pros

It’s been interesting learning how to manage and repair the various parts and pieces of these systems, and I like that I’m not always at a desk .