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Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater.

Related: Biomass Plant Technicians Chemical Plant & System Operators Hydroelectric Plant Technicians Power Plant Operators Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, & Still Machine Setters, Operators, & Tenders

Industries: Government Utilities

Summary
Details

Maintain, repair, and lubricate equipment, using hand tools and power tools.
Maintain, repair, and lubricate equipment, using hand tools and power tools.
Direct and coordinate plant workers engaged in routine operations and maintenance activities.
Collect and test water and sewage samples, using test equipment and color analysis standards.
Record operational data, personnel attendance, or meter and gauge readings on specified forms.
Inspect equipment or monitor operating conditions, meters, and gauges to determine load requirements and detect malfunctions.
Operate and adjust controls on equipment to purify and clarify water, process or dispose of sewage, and generate power.
Collect and test water and sewage samples, using test equipment and color analysis standards.
Clean and maintain tanks, filter beds, and other work areas, using hand tools and power tools.
Clean and maintain tanks, filter beds, and other work areas, using hand tools and power tools.
Clean and maintain tanks, filter beds, and other work areas, using hand tools and power tools.
Add chemicals, such as ammonia, chlorine, or lime, to disinfect and deodorize water and other liquids.
Maintain, repair, and lubricate equipment, using hand tools and power tools.

Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.

Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

More than 1 year on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

78810/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

37.89/hr

Currently Employed

2,780

Yearly Projected Openings

300

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Integrity
Dependability
Attention to Detail
Independence
Concern for Others
Initiative

Air samplers or collectors
Ammonia removal equipment
Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
Autosamplers
Bacterial removal equipment
Blowers
Carbon filtration equipment
Centrifugal pumps
Chemical pumps
Chlorine handling equipment
Colorimeters
Conductivity meters
Conveyor screw
Desktop computers
Digital camcorders or video cameras
Dissolved oxygen meters
Drain or pipe cleaning equipment
Flow sensors
Furnaces
Grit chambers
Heat exchangers
Hydraulic pumps
Hydrocarbons analyzers or detectors
Incinerators
Lift stations
Microcontrollers
Mixers or agitators
Nitrogen or nitrate or nitrite analyzer
Notebook computers
Odor control equipment
Oil content monitors analyzers
Organic carbon analyzers
Oxygen gas analyzers
Oxygen generators
Packaged water treatment systems
Positive displacement pumps
Screw Pumps
Sedimentological analyzing unit
Single gas monitors
Sludge collectors
Sludge disposal equipment
Sludge or sewage digesters
Sludge or sewage removal equipment
Sludge pelletizers
Sludge shredders
Toxicology analyzers
Turbidimeters
Ultrafiltration equipment
Ultraviolet wastewater disinfection equipment
Valve actuators
Water conditioners
Water purification equipment
Water samplers
Water treatment dryers
Wet scrubbers
pH meters

Compliance software
Data base user interface and query software
Document management software
Electronic mail software
Geographic information system
Industrial control software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Time accounting software
Word processing software

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Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators

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