How To Become A Water Chemist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a water chemist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Betsy Smith

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a water chemist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.48 an hour? That's $57,165 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 5,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a water chemist?

Dr. Betsy Smith

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Elmira College

I would advise students just graduating to be flexible and open-minded in their job search. Chemistry is a challenging major, and students who succeed in it have learned how to learn, so they shouldn't assume that pure chemistry is the only thing they can do. One growing field is biomedical research, and chemistry majors are often qualified for jobs in that area. If you have other strengths like writing, there are often jobs that can combine them as a technical writer or work for a science journal. There are jobs out there that might be perfect for you that you haven't heard of until you see an ad for it, so be open to different possibilities.

ScoreWater ChemistUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,165

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.25%

Asian 18.20%

Black or African American 7.87%

Hispanic or Latino 9.39%

Unknown 4.59%

White 59.70%

Gender

female 40.91%

male 59.09%

Age - 40

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 - 40

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a water chemist

Explore water chemist education requirements

Most common water chemist degrees

Bachelor's

73.1 %

Master's

14.0 %

Associate

6.5 %

Start to develop specific water chemist skills

Skills	Percentages
Water Samples	14.21%
QC	13.47%
Laboratory Equipment	11.84%
Water Treatment Plant	11.82%
Water Quality	10.56%

Complete relevant water chemist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New water chemists 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 water chemist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real water chemist resumes.

Research water chemist duties and responsibilities

Administer various laboratory safety audits with regard to OSHA rules and regulations to maintain adherence and manage necessary corrective actions.
Operate and maintain lab instrumentation such as pH meter, titration apparatus, spectrophotometer, etc.
Design FTIR chemical mapping/imaging experiments to evaluate sample heterogeneity, contamination, diffusion kinetics, dispersion quality and polymer cure uniformity.
Conduct laboratory analysis through the use of atomic absorption spectroscopy, titrations, and spectrophotometry.

Prepare your water chemist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your water chemist 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 water chemist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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