--- title: "Water/Wastewater Engineer" description: "Design or oversee projects involving provision of potable water, disposal of wastewater and sewage, or prevention of flood-related damage. Prepare…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Water/Wastewater Engineer **Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2051.02 Design or oversee projects involving provision of potable water, disposal of wastewater and sewage, or prevention of flood-related damage. Prepare environmental documentation for water resources, regulatory program compliance, data management and analysis, and field work. Perform hydraulic modeling and pipeline design. Also advertised as: Consulting Engineer; County Engineer; Engineer; Project Development Engineer. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $100,840 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $48.48/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $68,240 to $163,220, with the middle half between $79,930 and $129,680 - **Total US employment:** 367,840 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +5.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034) - **Annual job openings:** 23,600 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** 31/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 367,840 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $68,240 | | 25th | $79,930 | | 50th (median) | $100,840 | | 75th | $129,680 | | 90th | $163,220 | | Mean (average) | $108,670 | ### Pay by state The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there. | State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | CA | $122,500 | $110,639 | 55,180 | | AK | $114,730 | $112,086 | 1,670 | | WA | $110,000 | $102,791 | 12,590 | | MA | $106,730 | $100,920 | 9,450 | | LA | $105,380 | $119,469 | 3,780 | | OR | $105,250 | $101,828 | 4,890 | | NJ | $104,660 | $96,190 | 6,900 | | NV | $104,310 | $104,332 | 3,560 | | NM | $103,900 | $112,675 | 1,350 | | DC | $103,880 | $94,521 | 1,650 | | NY | $103,760 | $96,144 | 17,500 | | CT | $103,150 | $99,556 | 4,370 | | NE | $103,150 | $114,480 | 2,360 | | SC | $101,600 | $108,374 | 7,180 | | MN | $101,480 | $102,899 | 4,710 | 38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/water-wastewater-engineer. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 368,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 387,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 18,500 jobs, or +5.0%. Faster than average: 5.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 23,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** None. ### Education people in this job actually hold O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above. | Education level | Share of workers | | --- | --- | | Bachelor's Degree | 69.6% | | Master's Degree | 26.1% | | First Professional Degree | 4.4% | ## What the work involves - Provide technical direction or supervision to junior engineers, engineering or computer-aided design (CAD) technicians, or other technical personnel. - Design sludge treatment plants. - Conduct feasibility studies for the construction of facilities, such as water supply systems, runoff collection networks, water and wastewater treatment plants, or wastewater collection systems. - Design domestic or industrial water or wastewater treatment plants, including advanced facilities with sequencing batch reactors (SBR), membranes, lift stations, headworks, surge overflow basins, ultraviolet disinfection systems, aerobic digesters, sludge lagoons, or control buildings. - Design or select equipment for use in wastewater processing to ensure compliance with government standards. - Design water or wastewater lift stations, including water wells. - Provide technical support on water resource or treatment issues to government agencies. - Analyze and recommend sludge treatment or disposal methods. ## Skills and knowledge ### Essential skills - Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speaking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Science — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Transferable skills These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site. - Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Analysis — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Evaluation — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Time Management — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Operations Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Management of Personnel Resources — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Knowledge areas - Engineering and Technology — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Design — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - English Language — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Building and Construction — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Administration and Management — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Abilities - Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ## Who it suits O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | R — Realistic | 5.62 | | I — Investigative | 5.35 | | C — Conventional | 4.53 | | E — Enterprising | 2.90 | | A — Artistic | 1.85 | | S — Social | 1.76 | ### Personality fit These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job. | Type | Fit score (0–100) | | --- | --- | | ISTJ | 89.1 | | ISTP | 87.4 | | INTJ | 77.7 | | ESTJ | 67.5 | | INTP | 63.8 | Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Water Resource Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-resource-specialist) — median $167,220 - [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110 - [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840 - [Brownfield Redevelopment Specialist and Site Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/brownfield-redevelopment-specialist-and-site-manager) — median $141,900 - [Petroleum Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/petroleum-engineer) — median $144,910 - [Energy Engineer, Except Wind and Solar](https://nuecareer.com/careers/energy-engineer) — median $122,930 - [Environmental Science and Protection Technician, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-science-and-protection-technician) — median $55,090 - [Chemical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-engineer) — median $125,040 - [Wind Energy Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/wind-energy-engineer) — median $122,930 - [Transportation Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-engineer) — median $100,840 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/water-wastewater-engineer