Water / Wastewater Engineer
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Water or Wastewater Engineer specializes in the treatment and management of contaminated water. Designs sewage systems and water treatment plants.
Job Outlook
There were 877 Water / Wastewater Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 19115 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Water / Wastewater Engineer industry, which includes the Water / Wastewater Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Water / Wastewater Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $88,356.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $83,999.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Water / Wastewater Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $74,496.
Education and Experience
Posted Water / Wastewater Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
Education Level | Percentage |
---|---|
Associate's Degree | 2.23% |
Bachelor's Degree | 80.69% |
Master's Degree | 31.57% |
Doctoral Degree | 3.01% |
Other | 3.38% |
Posted Water / Wastewater Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
Years of Experience | Percentage |
---|---|
0 to 2 years | 18.91% |
3 to 5 years | 41.22% |
6 to 8 years | 20.04% |
9+ years | 19.83% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Water / Wastewater Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Planning (43.12%)
- Communication (38.84%)
- Management (36.86%)
- Coordinating (20.34%)
- Writing (18.78%)
- Leadership (16.43%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (15.81%)
- Operations (14.93%)
- Microsoft Office (14.84%)
- Presentations (13.94%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Civil Engineering (34.7%)
- Water Resources (37.81%)
- HEC-RAS (15.43%)
- HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Modeling System) (11.01%)
- Environmental Engineering (26.08%)
- Hydraulic Engineering (11.41%)
- Water/Wastewater Engineering (9.52%)
- Hydrology (28.39%)
- Sewage Treatments (21.9%)
- Pump Stations (13.37%)
- Wastewater (50.14%)
- AutoCAD (22.5%)
- Stormwater Management (30.96%)
- Project Management (41.74%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Technical Writing (8.59%)
- MicroStation (CAD Design Software) (10.04%)
- Computer-Aided Design (11.26%)
- Water Treatment (14.36%)
- ArcGIS (GIS Software) (14.6%)
- Marketing (8%)
- Hydraulics (19.82%)
- Business Development (18.73%)
- Chemical Engineering (12.11%)
- Construction (16.79%)
- Water Resource Management (3.24%)
- Project Implementation (5.48%)
- Commissioning (2.36%)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (9.1%)
- Geographic Information Systems (15.7%)
- Construction Management (10.83%)
- Mechanical Engineering (5.7%)
- Electrical Engineering (4.42%)
- Process Engineering (6.23%)
- Project Engineering (13.86%)
- AutoCAD Civil 3D (13.83%)
- Engineering Design Process (16.28%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Hydraulic Analysis (4.59%)
- Industrial Wastewater (3.79%)
- Flood Controls (4.5%)
- Hydropower (1.09%)
- Levees (4%)
- Hydrologic Modeling (2.28%)
- Low Impact Development (1.38%)
- Hydraulic Structure (2.68%)
- Spillway (4.27%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Hydrology (100%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Water / Wastewater Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Water/Wastewater Engineer
- Water Resources Engineer
- Water/Wastewater Project Engineer
- Wastewater Engineer
- Stormwater Engineer
- Water Resources Project Engineer
- Water Engineer
- Wastewater Process Engineer
- Civil Water Engineer
- Water/Wastewater Operator
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Civil Engineer
- Civil Engineering Manager
- Water Resource Specialist
- Environmental Engineer
- Water Treatment Specialist / Waste Water Operator
- Civil Engineering Technician
- Hydrologist
- Transportation Engineer
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Water / Wastewater Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Black & Veatch (1290)
- CDM Smith (1039)
- AECOM (532)
- WSP Global (510)
- Stantec (382)
- Olsson (347)
- GPAC (323)
- HDR (322)
- Jacobs Engineering Group (306)
- Tetra Tech (281)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (134)
- CDM Smith (40)
- State of North Carolina (34)
- WSP Global (31)
- Tetra Tech (21)
- City of Durham (19)
- Mcgill Associates, P.A. (18)
- GPAC (17)
- Stantec (16)
- Dewberry (16)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
- Biological and Agricultural Engineering Master's Degrees
- Civil Engineering Master's Degrees
- Engineering – 2+2 Undergraduate Degrees
- Environmental Engineering Master's Degrees
- Watershed Assessment and Restoration Graduate Certificates
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.