What does a water resource specialist do?
A water resource specialist is tasked with implementing strategies to solve water resource issues like water quality, water supply, or regulatory compliance issues. They perform hydraulic, hydrologic, and water quality analysis and modeling. They are also tasked with creating proposals, informational brochures, and similar documents on water purification, demand, and supply. A university degree and efficient communication skills are both needed to excel in this field.
Water resource specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real water resource specialist resumes:
- Repair and manage pumps, meters, hose, filters, plumbing part, chemical distribution systems and relate equipment.
- Draft construction plans using AutoCAD.
- Extract water from flood structures using commercial extraction equipment.
- Maintain QA/QC program, MSDS manual and all laboratory log books.
- Perform monthly audits of the QA function to ensure compliance with corporate standards.
- Review and prepare corporate tax returns for multiple entities using PeopleSoft and Corptax systems.
- Maintane group SharePoint and make sure that content and documents on site are up to date.
- Work at frac sites keeping track of water levels in frac tanks, line up trucks to empty tanks.
- Use SQL and Java to implement, troubleshoot, and support data pipelines that run at a large scale.
- Analyze data from MapReduce jobs in databases with SQL tools and find problems in order to implement or coordinate solutions.
- Determine municipality and industry NPDES compliance status.
- Replenish and properly discard unacceptable materials according to MSDS guidelines.
- Collaborate with interdisciplinary team regarding a new hospital initiative to identify high risk patients and ensure proper follow up post hospitalization.
- Demonstrate leadership during challenging times in by remaining calm during security checks and handling all situations with tenacity and dedication.
Water resource specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Water Resource Specialists are proficient in Water Resources, GIS, and Data Entry. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Communication skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Water Resource Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Water Resources, 18%
Established management plans and monitoring programs for the orderly development, administration and beneficial use of New Mexico's water resources.
- GIS, 8%
Developed a framework for a GIS application intended for use by Resource Conservation Managers to calculate parcels irrigated area.
- Data Entry, 6%
Communicate with farmers, canal companies, and office staff to accumulate information for data entry.
- Water Rights, 6%
Assisted several golf courses in acquiring necessary water rights and completed annual reporting for golf courses in the Phoenix Area.
- GPS, 5%
Conducted field work to gather GPS data and verify land ownership and beneficial use of water.
- Ventilation, 5%
Inspected and cleaned A/C ducts and air ventilation systems.
Common skills that a water resource specialist uses to do their job include "water resources," "gis," and "data entry." You can find details on the most important water resource specialist responsibilities below.
Leadership skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a water resource specialist to have is leadership skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "natural sciences managers must be able to organize, direct, and motivate others." Water resource specialists often use leadership skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "fort leonardwood basic combat training & fort lee va army quartermaster school -learned leadership skills, diversity training and team building"
Communication skills. Many water resource specialist duties rely on communication skills. "natural sciences managers must be able to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences, such as scientists, policymakers, and the public," so a water resource specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways water resource specialist responsibilities rely on communication skills: "maintained open two-way communications with customer service engineers account teams, and customer escalations. "
Interpersonal skills. This is an important skill for water resource specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how water resource specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "natural sciences managers lead research teams and therefore need to work well with others in order to reach common goals." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a water resource specialist: "provided conflict resolution strategies for intergenerational and interfamilial disputes including improving interpersonal communication skills and providing parents with alternative disciplinary tactics. ".
Problem-solving skills. For certain water resource specialist responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "problem-solving skills." The day-to-day duties of a water resource specialist rely on this skill, as "natural sciences managers use scientific observation and analysis to find answers to complex technical questions." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what water resource specialists do: "mixed chemical solutions, analytically tested water samples using tds and ph meters. "
The three companies that hire the most water resource specialists are:
- BELFOR Franchise Group11 water resource specialists jobs
- State of Arizona5 water resource specialists jobs
- Black & Veatch3 water resource specialists jobs
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Compare different water resource specialists
Water resource specialist vs. Senior hydrogeologist
Typically working at water treatment facilities, a water technician specializes in installing and repairing equipment to ensure the good quality of water and consumers' safety. It is their duty to operate tools and equipment, gather and analyze samples to detect any contaminants, participate in adjusting chemical levels, and perform regular maintenance checks on machines to ensure efficiency. They must also keep records of all operations, producing progress reports as needed. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with co-workers for a smooth workflow.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between water resource specialists and senior hydrogeologist. For instance, water resource specialist responsibilities require skills such as "water resources," "data entry," "water rights," and "gps." Whereas a senior hydrogeologist is skilled in "osha," "regulatory agencies," "groundwater flow," and "technical support." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Senior hydrogeologists tend to reach higher levels of education than water resource specialists. In fact, senior hydrogeologists are 19.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Water resource specialist vs. Water technician
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that water resource specialist responsibilities requires skills like "water resources," "gis," "data entry," and "water rights." But a water technician might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "work ethic," "strong work ethic," and "hand tools."
Water technicians may earn a lower salary than water resource specialists, but water technicians earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $39,983. On the other hand, water resource specialists receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $76,574.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Water technicians tend to reach lower levels of education than water resource specialists. In fact, they're 8.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water resource specialist vs. Water resources business segment leader
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from water resource specialist resumes include skills like "water resources," "gis," "data entry," and "water rights," whereas a water resources business segment leader is more likely to list skills in "management process," "product initiatives," "financial estimates," and "algorithms. "
Most water resources business segment leaders achieve a higher degree level compared to water resource specialists. For example, they're 30.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water resource specialist vs. Specialist
Even though a few skill sets overlap between water resource specialists and specialists, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a water resource specialist might have more use for skills like "water resources," "gis," "data entry," and "water rights." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of specialists require skills like "patients," "customer service," "work ethic," and "patient care. "
Specialists reach similar levels of education compared to water resource specialists, in general. The difference is that they're 2.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of water resource specialist
Updated January 8, 2025
