What does a water resources engineer do?
A water resource engineer develops new systems and equipment for a water resource management facility. You will be responsible for dealing with the provision for wastewater and sewage disposal, and prevention of flood damage. Your job may involve building, repairing, and maintaining structures for water resource control such as reservoirs and sea defense walls, and designing flood defense programs and sewer improvement plans. In addition, you are also expected to prepare tender documents and liaising with different individuals and agencies, including government agencies, local authorities, and contractors.
Water resources engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real water resources engineer resumes:
- Manage utilities and wastewater, infrastructure and cost savings projects from ideas to complete projects.
- Develop interior drainage studies using HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS models for levee certifications and levee analysis for certification.
- Perform QC activities on the data submit by subconsultant.
- Insure all EPA require data warehousing and reports are maintain.
- Design conveyance systems for potable, fire and recycle water.
- Prepare engineering reports, specifications, datasheets, and AutoCAD design drawings.
- Design concrete and asphalt roadways; sewers; sidewalks; and railroad crossings.
- Create inundation mapping using AutoCAD and determine the design year floods for dam rehabilitations.
- Provide assistance with NPDES permit requirements for such small systems and recommend best suitable alternatives.
- Design integrated multi-function valve manifolds to simplify hydraulic plumbing and reduce weight of the HRN.
- Conduct dam break analyses utilizing HEC-1 and HEC-RAS to calculate the flows and water surface elevations.
- Parcele land cover/soil type, in ArcGIS, within delineate drainage subbasins for curve number calculation.
- Study various TCEQ, EPA, and local regulations as applied to water and wastewater projects.
- Design concrete, asphalt, and gravel roadways; sewers; water mains; and sidewalks.
- Used SWMM to model catchment basins to work with various weather patterns for the storm-water runoff system.
Water resources engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Water Resources Engineers are proficient in Hec Ras, Hydrologic, and Civil Engineering. They’re also known for soft skills such as Writing skills, Problem-solving skills, and Listening skills.
We break down the percentage of Water Resources Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Hec Ras, 13%
Provide basic design utilizing AutoCAD and HEC RAS.
- Hydrologic, 8%
Performed hydrologic analysis in support of water right permit applications, watershed assessments and hydraulic studies in Washington State.
- Civil Engineering, 7%
Prepare civil engineering designs for water development facilities and canal over crossings along the California Aqueduct.
- GIS, 7%
Developed a top-notch procedure to identify and locate automatically sources of contamination employing new GIS technology.
- HEC-RAS, 7%
Delineated floodplains with the use of HEC-GeoRAS, an interface between ArcGIS and HEC-RAS.
- Autocad, 7%
Generated flood profiles by means of Rasplot and AutoCAD and compiled Flood Insurance Study (FIS) reports.
Most water resources engineers use their skills in "hec ras," "hydrologic," and "civil engineering" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential water resources engineer responsibilities here:
Writing skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a water resources engineer to have is writing skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "environmental engineers must write clearly so that others without their specific training can understand their documents, including plans, proposals, specifications, and findings, among others." Water resources engineers often use writing skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "performed field work related to data collection and collaborated with report writing. "
Problem-solving skills. Another essential skill to perform water resources engineer duties is problem-solving skills. Water resources engineers responsibilities require that "when designing facilities and processes, environmental engineers strive to solve several issues at once, from workers’ safety to environmental protection." Water resources engineers also use problem-solving skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "lead coordination efforts between fema, nddes, and nddot to collect high-resolution georeferenced aerial photography to document the flood events. "
The three companies that hire the most water resources engineers are:
Choose from 10+ customizable water resources engineer resume templates
Build a professional water resources engineer resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your water resources engineer resume.
Compare different water resources engineers
Water resources engineer vs. Director water and waste services
Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects. They should also be well-versed in different construction or industrial materials, and they ensure that appropriate materials are used for the project. They also ensure that the projects meet the requirements of the groups that hired them. They create spaces that would both address the needs of the end-users and the industry standards. They also ensure that the projects they make would stand the test of time.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between water resources engineers and director water and waste services. For instance, water resources engineer responsibilities require skills such as "hec ras," "hydrologic," "civil engineering," and "gis." Whereas a director water and waste services is skilled in "hazardous waste," "wastewater projects," "dot," and "educational sessions." This is part of what separates the two careers.
The education levels that directors water and waste services earn slightly differ from water resources engineers. In particular, directors water and waste services are 7.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a water resources engineer. Additionally, they're 3.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water resources engineer vs. Surface water manager
Each career also uses different skills, according to real water resources engineer resumes. While water resources engineer responsibilities can utilize skills like "hec ras," "hydrologic," "civil engineering," and "gis," surface water managers use skills like "plumbing," "water treatment plant," "water samples," and "process control."
Surface water managers earn lower levels of education than water resources engineers in general. They're 6.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for water resources engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Andrea Welker Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Villanova University
Water resources engineer vs. Engineer
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 resources engineer resumes include skills like "hydrologic," "civil engineering," "gis," and "hec-ras," whereas an engineer is more likely to list skills in "python," "cloud," "c++," and "c #. "
Engineers earn the highest salary when working in the automotive industry, where they receive an average salary of $97,672. Comparatively, water resources engineers have the highest earning potential in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $82,911.engineers typically earn lower educational levels compared to water resources engineers. Specifically, they're 8.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Water resources engineer vs. Water systems designer
Types of water resources engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
