Will AI replace Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators?
Estimated risk score: 26 out of 100
Lower replacement risk
Estimate from published task research, not reviewed by a person · how we estimate
Within about 19 points for 4 in 5 of the jobs we checked (7 to 45).
Low confidence: only 8 of its tasks are rated.
For the occupation as a whole, from ratings of its 8 O*NET tasks published in 2023 and calibrated to our hand scores. A specialty inside it can sit higher or lower.
O*NET-SOC 51-8031.00 · Production
Tasks rated in 2023 as ones AI could do or speed up
Tasks a GPT-4-class model could do, or do in half the time or less: 1 of its 8 rated tasks. In O*NET’s words.
- Record operational data, personnel attendance, or meter and gauge readings on specified forms.
Tasks rated in 2023 as not sped up by AI
Tasks such a model was rated as not speeding up or taking over: 7 of its 8 rated tasks; the first 6 are shown. In O*NET’s words.
- Add chemicals, such as ammonia, chlorine, or lime, to disinfect and deodorize water and other liquids.
- Clean and maintain tanks, filter beds, and other work areas, using hand tools and power tools.
- Maintain, repair, and lubricate equipment, using hand tools and power tools.
- 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.
- Direct and coordinate plant workers engaged in routine operations and maintenance activities.
What the job is
Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater.
Also called: Water Treatment Operator, Water Treatment Plant Operator, Wastewater Operator (WW Operator), Process Op, Water Tech, WW Operator, Basin Tender, WWTP Operator.
Source. This site includes information from the O*NET 30.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. (O*NET, CC BY 4.0.) Task ratings: Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models”, data used under the MIT licence (licence texts). Our change: we averaged the ratings over this occupation’s tasks and calibrated them to our 0–100 scale. It is not a prediction about any one person and not career advice. Disagree? Write to hello@yourstopwashit.com. How we estimate