What does a water engineer do?
A water engineer is responsible for performing a wide range of duties. They supply, manage and maintain both wastewater and clean water services to avert flood damage. They are in charge of preparing environmental documents for regulatory program compliance, water resources, fieldwork, data analysis, and management. They also provide technical direction to various technical personnel such as junior engineers, computer-aided design technicians, and other technicians.
Water engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real water engineer resumes:
- Support DOD agency needs in accomplishing engineer technical and non-technical goals associate with wireless LAN technology products.
- Standardize procedures and methods for performing RF coverage analysis and verification.
- Raise IP awareness by developing outreach programs to key business and technical stakeholders.
- Perform RF radiation hazard analysis for all facility emitters to establish personnel safety zones.
- Facilitate evolution/formulation of product architecture.
- Facilitate evolution/formulation of product architecture.
Water engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Water Engineers are proficient in Infrastructure, Cost Estimates, and GIS. They’re also known for soft skills such as Imagination, Interpersonal skills, and Reading skills.
We break down the percentage of Water Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Infrastructure, 15%
Designed and built the Hydro-Ram pump infrastructure to raise 10,500 gallons of water 330 feet in elevation every 24 hours.
- Cost Estimates, 9%
Developed contract specifications and construction cost estimates using available unit prices based on current market conditions and recent bid prices.
- GIS, 9%
Prepared water related GIS maps for Yazd Province * Evaluated and confirmed water related studies implemented by consulting companies
- Conveyance, 9%
Conducted water & sewer studies from which later water & sewer storage and conveyance systems were designed and constructed.
- Treatment Facilities, 6%
water treatment facilities and networks) throughout Southern Iraq.
- Water Resources, 5%
Project engineer responsible for design and analysis of projects relating to water resources elements of transportation projects.
"infrastructure," "cost estimates," and "gis" are among the most common skills that water engineers use at work. You can find even more water engineer responsibilities below, including:
Imagination. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a water engineer to have is imagination. Their role and responsibilities require that "environmental engineers sometimes have to design systems that will be part of larger ones." Water engineers often use imagination in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "verified full system emulator with android opengl basemark es taiji, imagination isp benchmarks. "
Interpersonal skills. Many water engineer duties rely on interpersonal skills. "environmental engineers must work with others toward a common goal," so a water engineer will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways water engineer responsibilities rely on interpersonal skills: "recognized for excellent interpersonal and communication skills as recipient of multiple presidents club awards. "
Reading skills. This is an important skill for water engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how water engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "environmental engineers often work with businesspeople, lawyers, and other professionals outside their field." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a water engineer: "fixed and improved bootstrapper (addressing ui and threading issues), a winforms build distribution tool used by multiple projects. ".
Writing skills. For certain water engineer responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "writing skills." The day-to-day duties of a water engineer rely on this skill, as "environmental engineers must write clearly so that others without their specific training can understand their documents, including plans, proposals, specifications, and findings, among others." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what water engineers do: "involved in testcase writing and debugging for controller perl scripting. "
Problem-solving skills. Another crucial skill for a water engineer to carry out their responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." A big part of what water engineers relies on this skill, since "when designing facilities and processes, environmental engineers strive to solve several issues at once, from workers’ safety to environmental protection." How this skill relates to water engineer duties can be seen in an example from a water engineer resume snippet: "design solutions to enhancement requests by developing with javascript and implementing workflows. "
The three companies that hire the most water engineers are:
- Jacobs Engineering Group
10 water engineers jobs
- Jacobs Enterprises10 water engineers jobs
- Intel6 water engineers jobs
Compare different water engineers
Water engineer vs. Director water and waste services
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a water engineer are more likely to require skills like "infrastructure," "cost estimates," "gis," and "conveyance." On the other hand, a job as a director water and waste services requires skills like "hazardous waste," "wastewater projects," "dot," and "educational sessions." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, directors water and waste services reach higher levels of education than water engineers. Directors water and waste services are 13.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Water engineer vs. Water systems designer
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that water engineer responsibilities requires skills like "infrastructure," "cost estimates," "conveyance," and "treatment facilities." But a water systems designer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "water quality," "auto cad," "drawing packages," and "jan."
In general, water systems designers achieve higher levels of education than water engineers. They're 6.7% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 2.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water engineer vs. Surface water manager
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, water engineers are more likely to have skills like "infrastructure," "cost estimates," "gis," and "conveyance." But a surface water manager is more likely to have skills like "water samples," "process control," "potable water," and "water management."
Surface water managers typically earn similar educational levels compared to water engineers. Specifically, they're 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water engineer vs. Wastewater treatment engineer
Types of water engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
