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 801 Water / Wastewater Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 18487 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 $102,560.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $98,737.
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 $84,903.
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 | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 79.99% |
| Master's Degree | 33.41% |
| Doctoral Degree | 3.31% |
| Other | 3.34% |
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 | 18.73% |
| 3 to 5 years | 37.54% |
| 6 to 8 years | 20.44% |
| 9+ years | 23.29% |
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 (42.25%)
- Communication (37.98%)
- Management (37.68%)
- Leadership (18.76%)
- Coordinating (18.67%)
- Writing (18.2%)
- Research (14.63%)
- Microsoft Office (14.55%)
- Mentorship (14.53%)
- Verbal Communication Skills (14.45%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Pump Stations (14.67%)
- HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Modeling System) (10.27%)
- AutoCAD (21.08%)
- HEC-RAS (14.15%)
- Civil Engineering (35.16%)
- Hydrology (26.63%)
- Project Management (43.68%)
- Stormwater Management (30.42%)
- Water Resources (36.21%)
- Wastewater (51.32%)
- Environmental Engineering (26.19%)
- Hydraulic Engineering (11.86%)
- Sewage Treatments (25.38%)
- Water Quality (9.81%)
- Water/Wastewater Engineering (10.48%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- AutoCAD Civil 3D (12.87%)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (8.95%)
- Project Engineering (8.8%)
- Project Implementation (8.82%)
- Computer-Aided Design (11.05%)
- Geographic Information Systems (13.5%)
- ArcGIS (GIS Software) (14.01%)
- Business Development (20.89%)
- Construction (14.59%)
- Engineering Calculations (10.44%)
- Engineering Design Process (16.28%)
- Process Engineering (7.61%)
- Feasibility Studies (3.44%)
- Data Analysis (8.59%)
- Mechanical Engineering (6.17%)
- Hydraulics (19.5%)
- Chemical Engineering (13.24%)
- Marketing (6.25%)
- Construction Management (9.86%)
- Business Strategies (2.73%)
- Water Resource Management (3.24%)
- Water Treatment (17.03%)
- Risk Analysis (5.6%)
- Technical Writing (9.33%)
- Water Distribution (6.98%)
- MicroStation (CAD Design Software) (9.69%)
- Commissioning (1.42%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- Hydrologic Analysis (3.49%)
- Hydraulic Analysis (4.3%)
- Levees (3.6%)
- Climate Change Adaptation (3.07%)
- Hydropower (0.97%)
- Hydrologic Modeling (1.75%)
- Flood Controls (4.01%)
- Spillway (4.17%)
- Green Infrastructure (6.07%)
- Watershed Management (5.01%)
- Stream Restoration (2.94%)
- Water Law (3.36%)
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.
- Water/Wastewater Engineering (17.31%)
- Hydraulic Analysis (7.1%)
- HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Modeling System) (16.98%)
- Hydrologic Analysis (5.77%)
- Civil Engineering (58.11%)
- HEC-RAS (23.38%)
- Hydraulics (32.22%)
- Hydraulic Engineering (19.6%)
- Low Impact Development (1.69%)
- Green Infrastructure (10.03%)
- Water Law (5.56%)
- Watershed Management (8.28%)
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
- Stormwater Engineer
- Wastewater Engineer
- Civil Water Engineer
- Water Engineer
- Water/Wastewater Project Engineer
- Water/Wastewater Operator
- Wastewater Process Engineer
- Water Resources Project Engineer
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
- Transportation Engineer
- Hydrologist
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 (1466)
- CDM Smith (927)
- WSP Global (461)
- AECOM (460)
- Jacobs Solutions (432)
- GPAC (424)
- HDR (420)
- Jobot (363)
- Stantec (357)
- Olsson (352)
North Carolina
- Black & Veatch (159)
- CDM Smith (39)
- Jobot (24)
- HDR (23)
- WSP Global (23)
- GPAC (19)
- City of Durham (17)
- Ljb (16)
- Mcadams (14)
- Tetra Tech (14)
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
- 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.