Water Treatment Operator
Runs and tests the systems that keep municipal water safe. Licensed, essential, and quietly ageing out of the workforce.
- Pay band (est.)
- $58k–$86k
- Time to competence
- 3 years
- Licence
- Required
- Setting
- site
- Leverage
- low
- Place constraint
- low
- Physical demand
- 50/100
- Hours burden
- 55/100
Factor percentiles
Percentile against the whole curated set. Higher is better on that factor only.
- Play7th
Absorbing rather than merely paid.
- Specific knowledge8th
A combination of skills that is hard to copy.
- Leverage14th
Output that scales through code, media, capital or crew.
- Demand3th
Durability and shortage, scored conservatively.
- Pay20th
Mid-career floor and the range above it.
- Body51th
Inverse of physical demand and hours.
- Autonomy12th
Control of methods and time.
- People fit36th
Distance from your preferred people level.
- Place flexibility57th
Remote fit and freedom from specific metros.
- Time to skill91th
Inverse of years to competence.
- Meaning load50th
Closeness to the families you marked as meaningful. Your mapping, not ours.
- Downside tolerance41th
Inverse of named risk to body, market or platform.
Downside
On-call and chemical exposure; municipal pay ceilings.
Examine this against your weights
The percentiles above use the default weights. Set your own on the ranking and this vocation moves with them.
- Place constraint is low. Where you live is analysed at locationistics.com.
- Hours burden is 55/100 and people intensity 30/100. Who you are with is analysed at relationistics.com.
Source note: BLS OEWS May 2024, Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators (51-8031): median $58,260, 90th percentile $86,160. Outlook from BLS 2025-35 projections, -5.7%. Other scores editorial. All figures are estimates for comparison.