Water Systems/ Water Resources Engineer

The Public Works Department has two opportunities to join a team of professionals as a Water Systems Engineer and a Water Resources Engineer at the Engineer I/II/III job classification level, depending on qualification and experience. Both of these positions are supervised by senior-level licensed civil engineers and provide the opportunity to gain experience performing a wide variety of field and office engineering work at a public water agency.  For the full job posting and to apply online, follow this link: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/slocountyca/jobs/4558861/public-works-civil-engineer-i-ii-iii-county-classification-engineer-i-ii-iii

Water Utilities: The Department of Public Works has an immediate opening for a Water Systems Engineer (Engineer I-II-III) within the Department’s Water Utilities Division. The Water Utilities Division is responsible for the water supply management, operation, maintenance, and capital improvements for our water utility systems, including two water treatment plants, four retail water distribution systems, three water supply dams and reservoirs, and four wholesale water distribution systems.

The Water Utilities Division is seeking a staff level engineer to assist and support professional level engineers by performing technical engineering work related to water system operations, water treatment, water distribution and reservoir operations. In addition, duties may include assisting with implementation of small capital improvement projects associated with the various water systems managed by the Utilities Division. The ideal candidate has some experience with hydraulics, pumps, and pipelines but more importantly an interest in water, a self-starter, and values being part of a team. 

Water Systems Engineers in the Utilities Division are responsible for:

• Engineering support for the effective operations of existing water, reservoir, and flood management infrastructure;
• Tracking water deliveries and requests, completing, updating and/or implementing water system master plans, modeling of existing systems, capacity studies, evaluation of system to identify needed capital improvement projects and any financing needs;
• Supply and demand analyses to identify and facilitate emergency exchanges of water and other resiliency measures and identify opportunities, develop and implement water supply transfers as needed to maximize the beneficial use of available water resources from the District’s wholesale water systems;
• Support of stakeholder advisory committees related to the various water and reservoir systems;
• Project management of operations and maintenance related projects.

The Water Systems Engineer will be assigned to the team involved in managing water supplies in coordination with stakeholders to identify opportunities, develop and implement water supply transfers as needed to maximize the beneficial use of available water resources from the District’s wholesale water systems. The Water Utilities Division operates and oversees the District’s Nacimiento Water Project and State Water Project wholesale water systems.  

The Water Systems Engineer will support the ongoing work to develop and implement the water management supply program and partnerships. Work efforts will include engineering feasibility analysis, financial analysis, negotiations, public engagement, contract development and administration. 

Please contact Wes Thomson, Supervising Engineer, at (805) 788-2101 or WThomson@co.slo.ca.us with any questions about this position.

Water Resources Engineer: Engineers in the Water Resources Division manage the development of water supply and flood management technical studies, sustainability plans and public engagement programs in order to understand conditions, set sustainability goals, identify solutions for achieving the goals and facilitate the initial implementation of those solutions. Multi-disciplinary skillsets are needed to provide the technical leadership services of this Division, including both knowledge application of water related engineering, regulatory and hydrology concepts, and application of communication, collaboration and emotional intelligence best practices to facilitate relevant elected official, agency and public engagement.

Please contact Angela Ford at 805-781-5139 or arford@co.slo.ca.us with any questions regarding this position.