Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Water Plant Engineer

🎯 Role Definition

The Water Plant Engineer is responsible for designing, optimizing, commissioning and ensuring reliable operation of municipal or industrial drinking water and/or wastewater treatment plants. This role combines process engineering, project management, regulatory compliance, asset reliability and continuous improvement to deliver safe, cost-effective water treatment solutions. The ideal candidate will have strong experience with water treatment processes (coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection, biological treatment, membrane systems), instrumentation and control (SCADA/PLC), asset management, and a demonstrated track record of coordinating capital projects and operations teams to meet quality, safety and environmental standards.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior/Associate Water or Process Engineer
Plant Operations Technician or Operator (with engineering transition)
Civil/Environmental Engineering graduate with internship in water utilities

Advancement To:

Senior Water Plant Engineer / Lead Process Engineer
Water Treatment Manager / Plant Superintendent
Asset Manager, Capital Projects Manager, or Consulting Principal in water sector

Lateral Moves:

Process Engineering (industrial water or chemical plants)
Environmental Compliance / Regulatory Affairs
SCADA/Controls Engineering or Reliability Engineering

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the engineering design and process optimization of full-scale water and wastewater treatment systems, including preliminary design, detailed design, equipment selection, process simulations, mass balances, and development of process control strategies to meet effluent quality, throughput and safety targets.
Manage capital improvement and plant upgrade projects from scope definition through procurement, contractor selection, construction administration, startup and commissioning, ensuring projects are delivered on schedule, within budget and compliant with specifications.
Develop, review and approve technical specifications, drawings, vendor submittals and datasheets for pumps, blowers, membranes, chemical feed systems, clarifiers, filters and instrumentation to ensure proper functionality and maintainability.
Analyze plant performance metrics and operational data (flow, loads, removal efficiencies, chemical usage, energy consumption) to identify improvement opportunities, implement process control changes and track long-term performance gains.
Design and implement control logic and HMI improvements for SCADA/PLC systems in coordination with controls engineers and operations staff to improve reliability, automation and alarm management.
Provide technical support and troubleshooting for complex process upset conditions, performing root cause analysis, pilot testing, bench trials or modeling to develop corrective action plans and reduce recurrence.
Ensure compliance with local, state and federal regulatory requirements (e.g., discharge permits, drinking water standards, reporting) by preparing permit documents, supporting compliance reporting and implementing process changes to meet standards.
Develop and maintain process safety, health and environmental risk assessments (HAZOP, LOPA, environmental impact assessments) and lead the implementation of mitigation plans and operational controls.
Oversee preventive and predictive maintenance programs for critical process equipment through specifications for condition monitoring, vibration analysis, lubrication regimes and spare-parts strategies to maximize uptime and manage lifecycle costs.
Coordinate with operations leadership to prepare and update standard operating procedures (SOPs), start-up/shutdown procedures and emergency response plans; lead training sessions for operators and maintenance personnel on new processes or equipment.
Conduct feasibility studies, lifecycle cost analyses and energy audits to recommend energy-efficient process modifications, chemical optimizations and opportunities for process intensification or automation.
Monitor and manage chemical dosing strategies, sludge handling and solids management processes to optimize treatment efficiency, reduce chemical and disposal costs, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Lead pilot testing programs (e.g., membrane pilots, biological amendments, advanced oxidation) including design, monitoring plan, data analysis and technical recommendations for full-scale adoption.
Prepare technical reports, regulatory submissions, permit modification requests, and design basis memoranda to communicate findings and recommendations to stakeholders, regulators and executive leadership.
Manage cross-functional teams including operations, maintenance, procurement and external consultants; prioritize workloads and resource allocation for multiple concurrent projects in a municipal or industrial environment.
Develop capital and operating budgets for proposed projects, provide cost estimates and present financial justifications (ROI, NPV) for recommended upgrades or process changes to senior management.
Maintain up-to-date plant documentation and asset registers, including As-Built drawings, O&M manuals, equipment serial numbers and warranty information to improve asset traceability and lifecycle planning.
Evaluate and implement digital transformation initiatives (historian data analytics, IIoT sensors, predictive analytics) to enable condition-based maintenance, performance benchmarking and data-driven decision making.
Serve as the technical liaison with external stakeholders including regulators, consultants, vendors and community representatives; lead public-facing technical presentations when required.
Drive continuous improvement culture by establishing KPIs, leading root cause and corrective action processes, implementing lessons learned and promoting safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible operation of water treatment assets.

Secondary Functions

Support plant commissioning activities including FAT/SAT coordination, punch-list closure and operator acceptance testing.
Assist procurement with technical evaluations of vendor proposals, lead bid reviews and support contract negotiations for complex equipment and services.
Contribute to emergency response and contingency planning for plant incidents, collaborating with local authorities and wastewater/drinking water partners.
Mentor junior engineers, interns and operators to build internal technical capability and support succession planning.
Participate in community and stakeholder outreach programs to explain plant improvements, environmental benefits and regulatory compliance activities.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Water and wastewater process design: coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, biological treatment (activated sludge, MBBR, SBR), tertiary filtration, membrane processes (UF/RO), and disinfection (chlorine, UV, ozone).
SCADA/PLC systems: programming basics, alarm strategy, HMI design, data historian integration and control logic troubleshooting.
Process simulation and modeling: mass balances, chemical dosing calculations, hydraulics, and use of tools such as EPANET, BioWin, GPS-X or similar.
Instrumentation & controls: flow meters, level sensors, turbidity analyzers, ORP/DO probes, pH/EC/TOC instrumentation and PID control loops.
Project management: scope definition, scheduling (MS Project or Primavera), budget development, contractor oversight and construction administration.
Regulatory compliance and permitting: knowledge of drinking water standards, NPDES/discharge permits, sampling programs, and permit reporting requirements.
Reliability engineering & asset management: preventive/predictive maintenance planning, FMECA, spare parts optimization and lifecycle cost analysis.
AutoCAD/Revit or other CAD tools for producing and reviewing engineering drawings and P&IDs.
Chemical handling and safety: dosing system design, chemical storage, spill prevention and hazard communication.
Data analysis and digital tools: Excel power tools, Python/SQL familiarity for data extraction, condition monitoring platforms and predictive analytics.
Pilot testing and scale-up methodologies for new treatment technologies, including design of experiments and statistical analysis.
Cost estimating and financial analysis: life cycle cost, ROI, NPV and CAPEX/OPEX trade-off assessments.
Construction and commissioning knowledge: FAT/SAT procedures, site safety, quality control and punch-list management.
Environmental health & safety standards: OSHA, confined-space entry procedures and plant safety program development.
Certification readiness: preparation for state operator licenses, PE exam support or continuing education in water treatment.

Soft Skills

Strong verbal and written communication skills for clear reporting to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Analytical problem-solving with the ability to synthesize operational data into actionable engineering solutions.
Leadership and team collaboration to coordinate multi-disciplinary teams across operations, maintenance and external contractors.
Time management and prioritization to balance reactive troubleshooting with planned capital work.
Adaptability and resilience to manage emergencies, regulatory changes and evolving technology landscapes.
Stakeholder management and diplomacy for interactions with regulators, community members and senior leadership.
Attention to detail in documentation, SOP development and quality assurance activities.
Coaching and mentoring skills to develop operator competency and junior engineering staff.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor of Science in Civil, Environmental, Chemical, Mechanical or Process Engineering (or equivalent) with coursework or experience in water/wastewater treatment.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, Water Resources, Process Engineering or MBA for candidates focusing on leadership and program management.
Professional Engineer (PE) license or progress toward licensure is highly desirable.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Environmental Engineering
Civil Engineering (water resources / hydraulic focus)
Chemical Engineering (process & unit operations)
Mechanical Engineering (rotating equipment, hydraulics)
Water Resources / Sanitary Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–10+ years of combined design, operation, and project management experience in municipal or industrial water/wastewater treatment plants.

Preferred:

5+ years in roles that include process design, plant commissioning, or operations support at full-scale treatment facilities.
Experience working with regulatory agencies, managing capital projects ($500k–$20M scope), and demonstrated success in process optimization and reliability improvements.
Holding or eligible for state water/wastewater operator certification and proven familiarity with SCADA, PLC and instrumentation ecosystems.