WEWater Resource Engineer
WE
Career

Water Resource Engineer

By the numbers
Typical pay
$100,840 / yr
Education to start
Bachelor's degree
Future demand
+5.0% by 2034
People in this job
368K
Figures shown for ·closest of 3 O*NET occupations
The work
A day, hour by hour
07:30
Data pull & triage

Download overnight rainfall and river gauge data; flag anything alarming.

08:00
Flood model run

Feed new storm data into HEC-RAS; watch where the model says water goes.

09:30
Design review

Scrutinize levee cross-sections — safe enough, or does the design need to grow?

11:00
Field site visit

Drive to the drainage construction site; check work matches the approved plans.

13:00
Water quality analysis

Review lab results from river samples; decide if the spike is real contamination.

14:00
Stakeholder briefing

Present flood risk findings to city officials in plain, no-jargon terms.

15:30
Compliance check

Verify treatment plant specs meet EPA Safe Drinking Water Act requirements.

16:30
Climate scenario work

Rerun drought projections using 50-year climate forecasts, not today's baselines.

Things you do
  • Design dams, levees, and drainage systems that protect communities from floods.
  • Run computer models to predict where floodwater will flow during a storm.
  • Collect water samples from rivers and test them for pollution and safety.
  • Draw up plans for water treatment plants that turn raw water into drinking water.
  • Visit construction sites to make sure water infrastructure is built correctly.
Decisions you’ll make
  • Does my flood model say this community is safe enough, or should I push for a bigger, costlier design?
  • Is this water quality reading a real contamination threat, or just a sensor glitch?
  • Should I flag this aging levee as a serious risk now, even if it delays the whole project?
  • Am I designing for today's rainfall patterns, or for what the climate will look like in 50 years?
  • Do I tell the community their water source is at risk before I have all the answers?
Education Pathways · how you get there
100 in 100 went the college route · 0 in 100 found another way in None, typically
Education mapped from O*NET:
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