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Skills that raise your pay

• Groundwater modeling

  Simulating aquifers is a specialist skill that consulting firms bill at a premium.

• GIS (geographic information systems)

  Mapping software is the everyday tool of this field, and being genuinely good at it makes you useful on day one.

• Programming

  Python or R for handling long records of gauge data. This has quietly become a hiring requirement.

• Water rights and regulation

  In the western states, who owns which water is a legal fight. People who understand both the science and the law are rare.

• Professional engineer license

  If you want to design and stamp drawings, not just analyze.