Water is essential to life on earth and unites our planet's ecosystems. A burgeoning population and the demands of society, though, are putting unparalleled pressures on the earth's limited fresh water resources.
Our world has changed over time. Population has increased; people have moved from rural to urban communities; a predominantly agricultural economy has shifted to industrial and service activities; technology has brought new products and processes. Water supplies that once seemed adequate now constrain our customary behavior and threaten even tighter conditions for future generations. Earth's land, water, air, and living spaces change as resource use and pollution expand.
The United States' population rose from approximately 76 million people in 1900 to about 250 million in 1990. Urbanization, mechanization of daily life, expansion of leisure time, added income and increasing water demands are all part of this pattern of growth.
Regional deficiencies now limit water and constrain growth in several large sections of the United states. For example, in the High Plains Region groundwater is being withdrawn much faster from the Ohallala Aquifer than it is naturally replenished, a practice which cannot continue indefinitely. Californians have recently been forced to conserve water to cope with a severe drought of several years' duration. Water quality is a pervasive problem nationwide.
Many other countries share the water problems which confront our nation, but in these counties the problems are often more acute. Serious public health problems exist throughout the world, and lack of water severely threatens food production. The solutions to these problems demand rained specialists and skilled technicians with water resources expertise in earth and life sciences, humanities, law, or administration.
The hydrologic cycle refers to the continuous cycling of water through the following processes: water evaporates from water bodies, or is transpires by plants into the atmosphere; it condenses and precipitates as rain and snow; it returns to the oceans via streams or seepage from groundwater aquifers. Precipitation may occur in minutes or hours, stream flow and infiltration to the water table take place in days, and groundwater may move to discharge areas in decades, centuries, or longer.
Retention of water in ice fields or in deep aquifers may extend the periods of local cycles through geologic ages. One must appreciate the hydrologic cycle to understand water resources and their best management.
The energy of the sun drives the hydrologic cycle by evaporating water and transporting water vapor in the earth's weather systems; the earth's gravity directs many hydrologic processes including stream flow. Only a small part of all the earth's water commonly occurs as fresh water; most occurs as salt water in the oceans, or as ice in ice caps and glaciers, or as hot mineralized brine deep in geologic formations. Humans purposefully interrupt natural cycling rates to supply water as needed rather than as delivered by the natural regime. For example, we construct storage reservoirs to supply municipal, industrial, and agricultural demands and return treated wastewater to our lakes and streams.
Both natural processes and human activities add pollutants and contaminants to water which is pure when first evaporated. The types of changes that may occur include:
Thus, water perpetually recycles and its quality continually changes.
The concept of water quality is meaningful only in the context of the use that is to be mode of the water. While most od us would consider distilled water to be pure and safe, the creatures that live in the sea would quickly die if placed in distilled water. Water high in plant nutrients, such as treated domestic sewage, may be an excellent source of water for irrigation, but it could cause serious problems when discharged to a surface water course. It has been said that "to live is to pollute." Even in the absence of human activity, other living organisms will pollute water. The question is not, "how do we completely abolish pollution?" but rater, "how can we improve water quality to a satisfactory level, and at what cost?"
Professional people concerned with water quantity and quality represent a variety of disciplines. The term "hydrologist" generally applies to those whose principal interest is in water resources on land. However, specialists in many other disciplines work in water resources. Water-resources research, planning, and management demand a mixture of skills.
Many types of engineers address water-resource issues: agricultural, civil, environmental, and hydraulic engineers quantitatively survey water resources, and measure flows in streams and canals, over spillways, through channels and conduits, and in underground aquifers. They gather and analyze data on the size and frequency of stream flows and the frequency and extent of floods and they monitor the construct facilities to store, treat, transport, and distribute water.
Hydrologic scientists may specialize in surface-water hydrology (the study of streams, lakes, and estuaries), groundwater hydrology and hydrogeology (study of subsurface water), soil sciences (study of infiltration, soil moisture, seepage, and evaporation from the soil), hydrometeorology (study of weather as is affects precipitation and evapotranspiration), limnology (study of lakes and wetlands), snow hydrology and glaciology (study of glaciers and ice)m and water quality and geochemical hydrology (study of water chemistry).
Physicists, chemists, and microbiologists research many basic water-resource questions, particularly in relation to the management, treatment, and transport of pollutants. The need to express natural water processes using mathematical models provides opportunities for mathematicians and statisticians to work on hydrologic and related sociological problems.
Hydrogeologists study geologic formations and map groundwater aquifers. Geomorphologists may study geologic processes in fluvial and karst environments, while glaciologists study alpine basins to learn more about the mechanics of glaciers and the relations between ice thickness, velocity, slope, and surface water flow.
Life scientists specializing in ecology, botany, limnology, forestry, agronomy, and microbiology study relationships between water resources and living organisms. These scientists study the process of transpiration by which plants return a sizeable portion of precipitation to the atmosphere. Life scientists are also developing methods to describe vegetation quantitatively in an effort to record the total environment of river basin-systems.
Economists, political scientists, geographers, ecologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and historians are involved in the growing public interest in water as it relates to human recreation, the quality of our environment, and other social objectives. If water is abundant, humans may use it in a somewhat cavalier fashion, averting impending shortages by simply building another dam or digging another well. But as the resources become increasingly scarce, more effective administrative and political institutions for water planning, development and management must emerge.
We all make several choices each day about how much water to use, in what forms, and in what ways. Factors affecting these choices involve laws, government or private agencies, business arrangements, and cultural traditions. Our attitudes will determine the success or failure of conservation and development programs. Planning for efficient use of water in industry, agriculture, and municipalities requires informed appraisals and projections of population, income, and industrial and urban development.
Water laws and regulations are often inadequate, confusing, difficult to apply and sometimes even cause wasteful use of water. Because water crosses state lines, there is often friction and conflict among states, and between state and federal jurisdictions with regard to control of water resources, we frequently change water laws only in responses to particular severe problems, resulting in the hodge-podge of water-resources statutes. There is a great need to review and revise our current water-resources legislation.
A demand exists for administrators and managers trained in water-resources administration. These positions require an ability to formulate plans and supervise local, state, or federal operations while taking into account all physical, political, and socioeconomic constraints.
Career opportunities in water resources are almost limitless. Employment opportunities include work in data collection and analysis, water-resource planning, drought and flood analysis, river-system management, water-quality investigations, ground water studies and research, and teaching, to name a few. The opportunities extend from employment in local, state, or federal governmental agencies, to waste-treatment specialists, and in private consulting firms in such fields as engineering, hydrogeology, groundwater hydrology, water-project planning and development, and water-quality analysis. For people interested in pursing their university training at the graduate degree level, teaching or research may offer a rewarding career.
Work in foreign countries with federal agencies, private firms, or international agencies has provided significant opportunity for many. Foreign-aid programs have employed numerous water-resource specialists. Some of the primary needs of developing countries lie in water supply, irrigation, sewage disposal, watershed management, and flood control.
The following is a description of some of the job opportunities available at different levels in the U.S. - with a quick survey of several of the principal agencies involved in water resources.
The Appendix to the Budget for any fiscal year and the U.S. Government Organizational Manual are good sources of information about federal government activities agencies in water resources. Individual federal agencies are receptive to inquiries through letters, telephone calls, or personal visits. Qualification standards for any particular position are available on request. The major organizations and their principal activities are as follows.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does feasibility studies, planning, and design for approved projects, builds dams and levees and improves navigational systems, and operates and maintains many completed projects. It is the largest federal employer of engineers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans for water-pollution control, conducts research and training, makes financial grants to states for research and to construct and operate water-pollution-control programs, enforces pollution- abatement laws and regulations, establishes water-quality standards, controls pollution from federal installations, and engages in miscellaneous support activities. The EPA employs biologists, chemists, land management experts, lawyers and resources planners.
The Department of the Interior's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - Water Resources Division is the primary agency in the nation which monitors and interprets stream flow and quality and groundwater data. It conducts hydrologic inventories, appraisals, and research regarding the water resources of the United States, its territories, and possessions. The USGS produces scientific reports, atlases, maps, and brochures on a wide range of water- related problems. The USGS, which is the largest employer of hydrologists and geologists, also employs engineers, physical scientists, life scientists, and mathematicians.
The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation develops multipurpose projects involving irrigation, hydroelectric power, municipal, industrial and domestic water supply, flood control, navigation, fish and wildlife, recreation, and water quality and pollution control. The Bureau staff includes civil, structural, and hydrologists, and geologists. Other important Department of Interior agencies involved in water resources include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies active in water resources include the Soil Conservation Service, which encourages improved land use practices to conserve land and water resources; the Forest Service, which emphasizes forest- watershed protection and water-yield management; the Agricultural Research Service, which conducts research to support land and water conservation; the Farmers Home Administration, which offers technical assistance to rural local governments or small towns for new water systems, sewers, or sewage treatment plants. USDA staffs are skilled in a wide range of technologies including engineering, agronomy, soils, hydrology, biology, forestry and range management, geology, economics, and administration.
The Department of Commerce's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is active in the water resources field through its own agencies which include the National Oceanographic Survey, the Great Lakes Survey, the National Weather Service, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. NOAA is also active through Sea Grant University cooperation in coastal and Great Lakes States.
Other opportunities for employment in water-resources include the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the Departments of Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Education, and Commerce; and Directorates of the National Science Foundation.
The following are water-resource positions with the federal government. These are currently listed as qualifications for major professional positions in the U.S. Geological Survey:
State organizations charged with water-resources development vary by state but typically include:
Each level of government has individual responsibilities. States typically allocate, regulate, and municipal bodies handle urban and suburban water supply and waste disposal, sometimes giving franchise to private organizations. In some metropolitan areas, agencies created by state law function independently of the municipalities they serve.
Vigorous, educated people are needed more than ever to manage water resources. Even at the state and local levels, personnel need the skills discussed above, because these workers are becoming increasingly involved in regional organizations which focus on solving broad water-resource problems.
Several international agencies address water resources. The United Nations has programs which focus on water quality and quantity in many countries. UNESCO, for example, sponsors an active program promoting safe drinking water in developing countries. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and similar organizations are heavily involved in evaluating and financing irrigation and water-supply projects.
Private enterprise offers a growing spectrum of employment opportunities. Engineering firms, for example, design and construct many of the facilities required by local, state, and federal governments. Hydrogeologic consulting firms are heavily involved in the surveying and remediation of polluted landfill and hazardous- waste sites. Manufacturing firms plan, produce, and market equipment and devices for water-supply control and management. Consulting, by individuals as well as large firms, has become an industrial firms maintain extensive research staffs to work on their own in-house water requirements. Water conservation, quality management, and waste treatment are important concerns of industry.
Those attracted to academic may find opportunities on campuses both large and small around the world. Most faculty combine teaching and research, using their research to illustrate classroom presentations. Many also carry on consulting activities to complement both research an teaching. University have been a principal source of fundamental water-resources research. Engineers address technical problems in design of works for water control, storage, and conveyance. Physical and life scientists research water environment relationships. Economists, sociologists, and lawyers may study ways to induce users to increase their efficiency.
Student entering the water-resources field must be well grounded in one of the basic academic disciplines, but individuals from many disciplines must work together to cover the breadth of complex, multi-disciplinary water-resource problems. You cannot be an expert in all these disciplines, but you must be able to talk to specialists in other areas and incorporate their advice in your conclusions.
The successful career person is one who can communicate - both orally and in writing. One must be able to develop a concise, complete report with recommendations summarizing a study or operation. Working with others requires that one appreciate opposing viewpoints and can adjust or compromise when it is clearly desirable.
There is urgent need for people with initiative, imagination, and dedication. There are manu individuals who carry on in well- established routines, and their skills are both necessary and appreciated. However, rarer are those who create, improvise, and think in bold terms. Water-resources planners must retain a certain flexibility, and the ability of researchers to analyze and predict consequences is vital. Our society must create strikingly new alternatives if we are to forge solutions which are realistic.
This third edition of Careers in Water Resources was prepared by John E. Hubbard, Chair of UCOWR's Education Committee, as an extension task of the NSF/USGS Water Workshop Project supported by National Science Foundation Directorate for Science and Engineering Education Award DUE- 9054275. The Water Workshops (J.E. Hubbard, Director, SUNY College at Brockport, Brockport, NY 14420) have provided faculty renewal education with assistance from U.S. Geological Survey. Development, review and editing assistance by James Moncour, Robert Stiefel, James Koelliker, Jennifer Prouty, Ives Publishing Services, Marjery Robinson and other Workshop and UCOWR colleagues are also acknowledged.
The Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR) is an organization of universities established to encourage education and research in water resources.
Information about UCOWR and this brochure may be obtained by writing:
A companion HYDROLOGY color brochure is also available from UCOWR.