Water Treatment Specialist / Waste Water Operator
Career Area: Manufacturing and Production
Occupation Group: Plant and System Operation
Salary
Percentile wages tell how much a certain percentage of an overall population in a geographic area or within a given industry or field makes. The percentile wage estimate is the value of a wage below which a certain percent of workers fall.
An example would be the 25th percentile, 25 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 75 percent earn more than the estimated wage value. At the 75th percentile, 75 percent of workers employed in that occupation earn less and 25 percent earn more than the estimated wage value.
A typical Water Treatment Specialist / Waste Water Operator earns the following wages (national and state):
State
The average salary in North Carolina for those pursuing this career is $39,056
National
The average salary in the United States for those pursuing this career is $44,824
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
Operates and monitors equipment in facilities that treat wastewater. Monitors treatment processes so that water is cleaned to meet public health and environmental standards and is safe for drinking or releasing into the environment.
Employment Trends
The job demand and job growth statistics shown here were derived from job posts over the past year. Expected job growth projections are extrapolated from year-over-year job post listing history.
Job demand and job growth is expected at the following rates:
| Location | Growth | |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 371 | -2.7% |
| Nationwide | 8652 | -4.8% |
Skills
A professional in this position typically utilizes the following skills in the course of everyday work in this exciting and challenging field:
Baseline Skills
The following are baseline skills every Water Treatment Specialist / Waste Water Operator is expected to have in order to experience success in this field:
- Physical Abilities: Physical Abilities, which refers to the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs. These abilities often require strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination.
- Communication Skills: The ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
- Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting or dpanneuring is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system.
- Preventive Maintenance: Machine maintenance or the preventive maintenance (PM) has the following meanings: The care and servicing by personnel for the purpose of maintaining equipment in satisfactory operating condition by providing for systematic inspection, detection, and correction of incipient failures either before they occur or before they develop into major defects.
- Computer Literacy: The ability to use computers and related technology efficiently for work tasks.
Specialized Skills
These skills are specific to working in this career:
- Wastewater Treatment: Wastewater treatment is a process used to convert wastewater - which is water no longer needed or suitable for its most recent use - into an effluent that can be either returned to the water cycle with minimal environmental issues or reused.
- Repair: Restoration of a broken, damaged, or failed device, equipment, part, or property to an acceptable operating or usable condition or state.
- Water Treatment: Water treatment is any process that makes water more acceptable for a specific end-use.
- Machinery: Experience working with machinery.
- SCADA: Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is a control system architecture that uses computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level process supervisory management, but uses other peripheral devices such as programmable logic controllers and discrete PID controllers to interface to the process plant or machinery.
Distinguishing Skills
Any Water Treatment Specialist / Waste Water Operator that possesses the following skills will stand out against the competition:
- Wastewater Collection: Wastewater collection systems gather the used water from our homes, businesses and industries and convey it to a wastewater treatment plant.
- Industrial Wastewater Treatment Systems: Working experience of Industrial Wastewater Treatment Systems, which are used for treating wastewater that is produced by industries as an undesirable by-product. After treatment, the treated industrial wastewater (or effluent) may be reused or released to a sanitary sewer or to a surface water in the environment.
- Interpret Gauges: A gauge or gage, in science and engineering, is a device used to make measurements or in order to display certain information, like time.
- Flow Meters: A flow meter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a gas or liquid moving through a pipe
- Waste Treatment: Waste treatment refers to the activities required to ensure that waste has the least practicable impact on the environment.
Experience
This position typically requires the following level of experience. The numbers presented in the pie charts below were derived from actual job posts over the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Experience Required | % |
| 0 to 2 years | 61% |
| 3 to 5 years | 33% |
| 6 to 8 years | 3% |
Many of the programs offered through NC State are designed for working professionals who need additional credentials to enhance existing work experience.
Students who do not have the expected level of experience may wish to look into internship and employment opportunities.
Common Job Titles
It is possible to find work in this field in positions commonly listed as the following job titles:
- Wastewater Operator
- Water Technician
- Water Treatment Plant Operator
- Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator
- Water Treatment Operator
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