Water Resources Engineering

Become a Board Certified Water Resources Engineer

• Eligibility for Certification

  The baseline requirements set the minimum standards for applying for post-licensure board certification in civil engineering specialties. Board certification demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for competent practice, as outlined in the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (CEBOK3) and the relevant Specialty Area Bodies of Knowledge (SABOK).
  
  1. Professional Characteristics:
  1.1 Adherence to the ASCE Code of Ethics.
  1.2 Strong communication skills.
  1.3 Demonstrated project management and/or leadership abilities.
  1.4 Commitment to continuing education and advancing the profession.
  
  2. Education: Formal education in engineering and the specialty area supports achievement of the CEBOK3 and specialty area of body of knowledge.
  2.1 A bachelor’s degree in engineering or another related field, from an ABET-accredited program is required. Alternatively, a relevant postgraduate degree (master’s or PhD) may fulfill this requirement.
  2.2 Thirty or more postgraduate education credit hours, or completion of recognized certificate program(s). Alternatively, additional work experience can also qualify (see Item 4.2 below for details).
  
  3. P.E. License or Approved Equivalent:
  3.1 A current P.E. license or approved equivalent is required. In countries without this, additional work experience may substitute (see item 4.3 below).
  
  4. Work Experience: Work experience may include planning, design, analysis, operations, management, governance, research, and/or teaching. The applicant must be currently actively engaged in the specialty area of water resources engineering and have:
  4.1 At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in civil engineering after the first bachelor's degree, with 8 years in water resources engineering.
  4.2 Without postgraduate education (see item 2.2 above), 15 years of experience (13 in the specialty) is required.
  4.3 If an applicant lives and works in a country without a P.E. license or equivalent (as per requirement 3), they must have at least 15 years of civil engineering experience, with 13 of those years in water resources engineering.
  
  5. Validation:
  5.1 The applicable administrative unit validates achievement of the requisite CEBOK3 and SABOK outcomes in a manner appropriate for the certification. Validation applies to all applicants and follows a uniform process for each certification developed and administered by the applicable specialty board.
  
  View the complete CEC eligibility requirements. 
  If you have any questions regarding your eligibility for certification, contact [email protected].
  

• Certification application

  To apply for board certification in water resources engineering:

  1. Email your completed application and supporting documentation to [email protected].
  2. Request references from licensed professional engineers representing at least three different organizational entities. You may submit more than three professional references, provided at least three are from different organizational entities. You must request these references using the form provided.
  3. Pay the application fee online. The application fee is non-refundable, please ensure you have met eligibility requirements before paying the application fee.

  Applicants for the water resources engineer board certification must complete the application in its entirety and remit the appropriate fees to be considered. The application must be completed in English and all payments must be in U.S. dollars.

  Once the application has been submitted, it will be reviewed for completeness by CEC staff before it’s sent to the Admissions Committee. If an application is deemed incomplete at the published deadline, further processing/review will be delayed until the next application cycle.

  There are the following possible outcomes that result, once an application has been fully reviewed by the Admissions Committee:

  1. The applicant may be approved for the board certification, with the panel oral exam waived.
  2. The applicant may be recommended for the panel oral examination.
  3. The applicant may be required to submit additional documentation and/or clarify their professional experience and expertise.
  4. The applicant is denied board certification.

  All recommendations from the Admissions Committee are provided to the AAWRE Board of Trustees.

  The AAWRE Board of Trustees is responsible for issuing the certificate of special knowledge to an applicant, indicating attainment of the water resources engineer board certification.

• Application fees

  All applicants must submit an application fee that covers program expenses including application review, oral examination, record keeping, issuance of a certificate, and first year's board certification fee.

  • ASCE and/or Institute members - $350
  • Nonmembers - $450

• Application deadlines, candidate review timeline and outcomes

  • Spring application deadline: March 31
  • Summer application deadline: June 30
  • Fall application deadline: Sept. 30
  • Winter application deadline: Dec. 31

  Our program involves thorough applicant reviews by volunteer member boards and panelists, so the timeline from application submission to board certification can span several months. An overview of typical processing times is outlined below. 
  
  1. After submission, your application undergoes a completeness check by CEC staff (7-10 business days) before it is sent to the respective Review Committee.
  2. Complete applications are reviewed quarterly for winter, spring, summer, or fall intake (6-8 weeks).
  For example, if an application is received in February, your application will be reviewed with other applications that are received by the March 31 deadline for the spring applications review. (allow 6-8 weeks for review time by Review Committees after each published application deadline) 
  3. Incomplete applications by the deadline are deferred to the next cycle for review. 
  4. If you are recommended for the panel exam interview, depending on your schedule and the panel’s availability, the normal period for a panel interview to be scheduled is within 4-6 weeks after the committee’s recommendation for your panel interview. 
  5. If you have participated in a panel exam interview, you can expect to hear the results of your interview within 2-3 business days.
  
  Below are the following possible outcomes once an application has been fully reviewed by the Review Committee and the timeline after an application is submitted:
  
  1. In rare circumstances, the applicant may be approved for the board certification, with the panel oral exam waived. (6-8 weeks after the review deadline)
  2. The applicant may be recommended for the panel oral examination. (12-14 weeks after review deadline to participate in a panel interview after the review deadline)
  3. The applicant may be required to submit additional documentation and/or clarify their professional experience and expertise. (6-8 weeks after the review deadline + additional weeks for additional review)
  4. The applicant is denied board certification. (12-14 weeks after the initial review deadline + additional review of additional documentation of application materials)
  
  Please contact [email protected] for any questions regarding the timeline for the application process.

   

• Prepare for the oral exam

  The candidate is to give a 30-minute presentation that should cover his/her professional work experience with example projects as appropriate. Through this presentation, the candidate should demonstrate mastery of one of the bodies of knowledge (BOK) elements in the application. The candidate should be specific about which BOK elements they believe they have mastered.

  Following this presentation, the candidate will be given a series of questions by the examiners to clarify the full extent of the applicant’s experience. The examiners’ questions will relate to the applicant’s specific presentation, as well as any other areas of his professional career as necessary to provide a basis for assessing whether the candidate has:

  • Demonstrated advanced and accurate knowledge in water resources engineering.
  • Demonstrated progressive responsible charge in the water resources engineering profession since obtaining his/her P.E.
  • An attitude regarding continued professional development that is consistent with that of the Academy and ASCE.
  • Current responsibilities include either routine performance or routine review of technical aspects in water resources engineering.

  In addition, a scenario or a few scenarios may be presented for the applicant to discuss and thereby demonstrate aspects of their professional judgment. These scenarios will not be provided to the candidate before the interview. The responses will be used to evaluate the candidate's understanding of water resources engineering and approaches to solving problems.

Water Resources Engineering Body of Knowledge

The Water Resources Engineering Body of Knowledge, version 3 (WRBOK3) describes the knowledge and core competencies integral to understanding the practice of water resources engineering.

• Abstract

  The water resources engineering body of knowledge (WRBOK) describes the knowledge and core competencies integral to achieving expertise in the practice of water resources engineering. This document articulates the body of knowledge for the practice of water resources engineering. The WRBOK describes the knowledge and skills required to practice water resources engineering at the expert level. The WRBOK is based on and builds upon the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Body of Knowledge 3^rd edition (CEBOK3) for the practice of Civil Engineering, of which water resources engineering is a part. The WRBOK consists of five technical outcomes and four professional outcomes that go beyond the CEBOK3 requirements. The typical path to fulfill these outcomes is through a combination of bachelor’s degree-level work, master’s degree-level work, mentored experience, professional experience, continued self-development, and service. The American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE) Board of Trustees uses the WRBOK in the process of evaluating candidates for board certification in water resource engineering.

• Introduction

  A water resources engineer (WRE) must have a broad array of technical and non-technical knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitudes. This document articulates the body of knowledge for the practice in the specialty area of water resources engineering. The water resources engineering body of knowledge describes the knowledge and skills required to practice water resources engineering at the expert level. The WRBOK is based on and builds upon the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Body of Knowledge 3^rd edition for the practice of Civil Engineering, of which water resources engineering is a part. The WRBOK also builds upon and updates content from the previous WRBOK (AAWRE, 2009). Leading practitioners and engineering educators realize there is a need to identify this knowledge and these skills and to articulate how they might be best acquired via a defined water resources engineering body of knowledge. Given the expanding nature of the water resources engineering discipline and the many changes occurring today and in the future, defining a WRBOK is particularly important. The American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE) Board of Trustees uses the WRBOK in the process of evaluating candidates for board certification in water resource engineering.

  The water resources engineering body of knowledge describes the knowledge and core competencies integral to achieve expertise in the practice of water resources engineering and leading to specialty certification. The WRBOK captures the knowledge and skills of the archetypical water resources engineer that were deemed important by the consensus of the AAWRE Board of Trustees. Achieving the WRBOK relies on a combination of formal undergraduate and postgraduate education, professional experience, extracurricular activities, practitioner mentoring, and peer interactions. It is not expected that every practicing water resources engineer will achieve all outcomes at the same level, but rather each educational program and each individual will follow an educational and experiential path suitable to their respective professional objectives.

  Acquiring the WRBOK should lead to licensure and later could lead to specialty board certification through AAWRE. The WRBOK builds on the body of knowledge appropriate for civil engineers, then expands into areas specific and unique to water resources engineering. The WRBOK is not overly prescriptive and is outcomes-based. As does the CEBOK3 adopted for civil engineers, the outcomes are intended to help educators design curricula that provide the basis to gain the competencies needed for professional practice and licensing boards to determine the expertise required for licensure. The WRBOK provides a basis for the AAWRE to evaluate the education and experience of water resources engineers applying for board certification.

  The third edition of the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (ASCE, 2019) was used as the basis to revise the WRBOK. Some concepts and ideas from Ressler and Lenox (2019) were considered in this revision. This WRBOK is consistent with ASCE Policy Statement 524 on advanced credentialing (ASCE, 2022a) and ASCE Policy Statement 568 on fulfilling the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (ASCE, 2022b). A brief revision history of the WRBOK is included in the Appendix.

• Definition of water resources engineering

  Water resources engineering is the professional discipline for the stewardship and sustainable use of the world's water and related resources. Water resources engineers develop and apply scientific and engineering principles to plan, design, construct, manage, operate, regulate, and maintain infrastructure and programs. Water resources engineers are employed in both public and private sectors, as well as by colleges and universities.

• Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (CEBOK3) Overview and Outcomes

  The third edition of the CEBOK3 is described by 21 outcomes in four categories. Each of the 21 outcomes is described by an outcome rubric, which includes the level of achievement required for entry into the practice of civil engineering at the professional level. The outcomes are listed in Table 2 in the Appendix.

  The ASCE CEBOK3 specifies 21 outcomes one must achieve at various cognitive domain levels. The cognitive domain describes the development of intellectual skills, ranging from the simple recollection of specific facts to the integration and evaluation of complex ideas and concepts. There are six cognitive domain levels of achievement that are defined in ASCE (2019) and are listed below.

  • Level 1 – Remember: The ability to remember previously learned material.
  • Level 2 – Comprehend: The ability to grasp the meaning of learned material.
  • Level 3 – Apply: The ability to use learned material in new and concrete situations.
  • Level 4 – Analyze: The ability to break down learned material into its component parts so that its organizational structure may be understood.
  • Level 5 – Synthesize: The ability to put learned material together to form a new whole.
  • Level 6 – Evaluate: The ability to judge the significance and importance of learned material for a given purpose.

• CEBOK3 Requirements

  One can meet the CEBOK3 requirements by achieving cognitive domain Levels between 3 and 5 for the 21 outcomes (Table 2 in the Appendix). The CEBOK3 defines the typical pathway for fulfilling the level of achievement using four components that are listed below (ASCE, 2019 p. 8):

  • Undergraduate Education (UG): undergraduate education leading to a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering or a closely related engineering discipline, in general, from a four-year program accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (EAC/ABET).
  • Postgraduate Education (PG): postgraduate education equivalent to or leading to a master’s degree in civil engineering or a closely related engineering discipline, in general, equivalent to one year of full-time study.
  • Mentored Experience (ME): early career experience under the mentorship of a civil engineer practicing at the professional level, which progresses in both complexity and level of responsibility.
  • Self-Developed (SD): individual self-development through formal or informal activities and personal observation and reflection.

  One typical pathway to achieve the CEBOK3 is the following:

  • Complete a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering (UG)
  • Obtain mentored experience (ME),
  • Complete professional licensure (PE),
  • Obtain postgraduate education (PG),
  • Perform self-development (SD).

• Water resources engineering body of knowledge

  The WRBOK focuses on a subset of nine outcomes from the 21 listed in CEBOK3. It expands the CEBOK3 to include one additional outcome – service, and an additional component - experience (E). The associated cognitive domain Levels of achievement are between 4 and 6 for the 10 WRBOK outcomes. These levels exceed the CEBOK3 in several important areas that are needed for specialty certification. Achieving the WRBOK is required for specialty certification in water resources engineering, as the CEBOK3 does not fully address outcome levels needed for specialty certification. ASCE Policy Statements 524 (ASCE, 2022a) and 568 (ASCE, 2022b) support this.

  Download the complete WRBOK3