Hydrologic Technician

Full Job Description

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource. We expect to fill many vacancies. This is a temporary appointment.

Appointment to this position will not convey permanent status and will be for a period not-to-exceed 1560 hours in a service year.

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the qualification requirements - please be sure to include this information in your resume.

No assumptions will be made about your experience. GS-5: Resume should demonstrate one year of specialized work experience equivalent to the GS-4 level.

Examples of specialized experience may include conducting water resource inventories as directed to provide predictive information to be used in the planning system; and compiling and recording data obtained during inventories; -OR- Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree with major study in an appropriate field of science, engineering, construction, or industrial technology, or that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as engineering, industrial technology, construction drafting, surveying, physical science, biology, or mathematics, -OR- A combination of experience and education to meet the total experience.

GS-6: Resume should demonstrate one year of specialized work experience equivalent to the GS-5 level.

Examples of specialized experience may include conducting inventories of areas where land modifications can potentially impact watershed and hydrology; assisting in analyzing data obtained during inventory; and assembling all data in logical sequence for review and use by professional staff; -OR- Successful completion of 6 months (13 quarter hours or 9 semester hours) of graduate study directly related to the work of the position; -OR- A combination of experience and education to meet the total experience.

GS-7: Resume should reflect one year of specialized work experience equivalent to the GS-6 level.

Examples of specialized experience may include collecting and compiling watershed data using current techniques, methods and procedures; conducting activities related to water monitoring; and assisting in the evaluation and development of watershed project plans and project assessment; -OR- Successful completion of one year (27 quarter or 18 semester hours) of graduate study directly related to the work of the position; -OR- A combination of experience and education to meet the total experience.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Physical Demands/Work Environments: Work may be performed indoors or outdoors.

Work may occur in steep, wet and muddy terrain, in campgrounds, recreation sites, visitor centers, offices, fee booths, bathrooms, trails or remote areas requiring extended camping.

Positions may require physical exertions such as extended walking/standing, driving, stooping/crouching, digging, or lifting/carrying.

Individuals should be able to work alone or with people; during day/night/weekend/holiday hours. Major Duties:

• Hydrologic Technicians collect surface water and ground water data in accordance with standard procedures using standard and specialized data collection equipment.
• Collecting water/sediment for chemical or biological analysis and making field determination on surface and/or ground water for a variety of chemical parameters.
• Performs water-level and discharge measurements from wells and springs noting various field conditions. Computes and checks ground-water records from field notes where hydrologic conditions are fairly stable.
• Selects from a variety of well-established procedures to perform routine field water-quality measurement such as water temperature, specific conductance, PH, dissolved oxygen, and alkalinity.
• Hydrologic Technicians perform routine measurements of stage and discharge applying various methods and using different equipment depending upon the field conditions.
• Use computers to store and analyze water resources data including spreadsheets, word processors, databases and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
• Record notes, check computations, prepare records for computer processing, enter data into computer files, and assemble and prepare field and laboratory data for tabulation and publication.
• Install, maintain, service, and troubleshoots a variety of hydrologic sensing, recording, and communications equipment and instrumentation while evaluating accuracy in relation to computations on hydrologic data and records.
• Collects data on stream and riparian reserves where land modification projects can potentially impact watershed and hydrology.
• Collects information on the origination and location of water sources.
• Collection of data on project level impacts related to hydrology and impacted soils.