Description
Research, design, plan, and perform engineering duties focused on protecting public health through water supply, wastewater, stormwater, and sanitation systems. Work includes treatment process design, sewer and pump station planning, pollution control, and regulatory compliance.
- • Prepare, review, or update sanitary surveys, engineering reports, and facility plans for water and wastewater systems.
- • Obtain and maintain permits (e.g., NPDES, drinking water) and standard operating procedures for treatment and collection systems.
- • Provide technical support for drinking water and wastewater compliance projects, including process troubleshooting and regulatory applicability determinations.
- • Monitor performance of treatment plants, sewers, and stormwater controls and track improvement program milestones.
- • Inspect municipal and industrial water and wastewater facilities to evaluate operations and ensure regulatory compliance.
- • Collect operational data, prepare project documentation, train operators, and support project administration.
- • Develop project objectives, KPIs, and schedules for sanitary infrastructure projects and report progress to management.
- • Advise utilities and municipalities on procedures for managing overflows, boil-water events, and sanitary incidents.
- • Advise industries and agencies on sanitation, pretreatment, and wastewater discharge standards.
- • Inform facility staff and stakeholders about water quality, hygiene, and system operation issues.
- • Assess impacts of developments on water supply, sewer capacity, and stormwater systems.
- • Assist with budgeting, cost estimates, and life-cycle cost analyses for sanitary projects.
- • Develop site-specific health, safety, and biosafety protocols for plants, collection systems, and sludge handling.
- • Coordinate or manage sanitary engineering programs, assigning and evaluating work of staff and contractors.
- • Serve as liaison with public health, water, and environmental agencies on drinking water, wastewater, biosolids, and stormwater requirements.
- • Prepare documentation for biosolids management, residuals disposal, and chemical handling in accordance with regulations.
- • Develop or deliver operator training on treatment processes, sampling, hygiene, and regulatory compliance.
- • Develop and implement water conservation, inflow and infiltration reduction, and source control programs.
- • Characterize and manage wastewater, septage, sludge, and hauled waste streams.
- • Prepare specifications and request bids for pipes, pumps, treatment equipment, and construction services.
- • Perform hydraulic and process modeling for distribution, collection, and treatment systems; support regulatory analysis and data management.
- • Design and supervise design of sewers, pump stations, water mains, treatment units, disinfection systems, and stormwater controls.
- • Direct installation and operation of flow meters, SCADA, and water quality monitoring devices; oversee data collection programs.
- • Prepare or present public briefings on water and wastewater projects and service impacts.
- • Write technical reports, standard operating procedures, and public information materials on sanitation topics.
- • Collaborate with operators, planners, public health officials, engineers, and contractors to address sanitation challenges.
- • Support planning, QA, safety inspections, and sampling during sanitary system audits and cross-connection surveys.
- • Prepare, maintain, or revise QA/QC documentation for laboratories, sampling, and process control.
- • Attend professional conferences or utility forums to share and obtain sanitary engineering best practices.
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O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
