Also called: SCADA Specialist (Water), Instrumentation Technician (Water)
Maintains the sensors, radios and control computers that let a city run its water system from one control room.
A pump station 10 miles away stopped reporting, so you drive out, find a dead radio, and get it talking again. Back at the plant you calibrate chlorine sensors and update the control program. You also guard the system from hackers.
Estimated from BLS electrical and electronics repairers, industrial.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate's in electronics or instrumentation technology.
Ways in: 2-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Instrumentation Technology, Electronics Technology.
Growing faster than average. Growing as utilities modernize and harden against cyberattacks.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps watch alarms, but fixing radios, sensors and PLCs at remote sites is hands-on; cyber skills grow in value.
Classes: Electronics CTE class, Computer science, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 49-2094.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.