Engineering
Water/Wastewater Engineers
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.
Median salary
$99,590
Typical range
$66k – $161k
Job outlook
+5% (faster than average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Water/Wastewater Engineers
Education
Typical entry: Bachelor's degree
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Water/Wastewater Engineers Intern
Internship
$36,000
~4 mos to advance
Junior Water/Wastewater Engineers
Entry / Junior
$65,920
~2 yrs to advance
Water/Wastewater Engineers
Established
$99,590
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Water/Wastewater Engineers
Senior
$130,290
Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.
Key skills
A typical day
- •Provide technical direction or supervision to junior engineers, engineering or computer-aided design (CAD) technicians, or other technical personnel.
- •Review and critique proposals, plans, or designs related to water or wastewater treatment 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.
- •Evaluate the operation and maintenance of water or wastewater systems to identify ways to improve their efficiency.
- •Design or select equipment for use in wastewater processing to ensure compliance with government standards.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Engineering
Explore all- Massachusetts Institute of Technology4% admit · $124,000 grad pay
- Stanford University4% admit · $122,000 grad pay
- University of California, Berkeley11% admit · $97,000 grad pay
- Georgia Institute of Technology16% admit · $99,000 grad pay
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign45% admit · $80,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.