WATER
ENGINEERING
INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS.
3/30/2021 WATER ENGINEERING QUESTIONS.
Water Engineer job interview questions for urban local authorities.
WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS.
TYPICAL QUESTIONS.
1) In the design of sewers,how do you minimize siltation?
Sewer should be designed with a self cleansing velocity at least once a day during peak period.
2) In sewage treatment what is the role of maturation ponds?
Pathogen reduction
Further BOD reduction
Nutrient removal
3) What is Water Demand Management?Namebany three main groupings of WDM measures that can
be applied.
Water demand Management is a management approach that aims to conserve water by influencing
[Link] involves the application of selective incentives to promote efficient and equitable use of
water.
Technical measures
Regulatory measures
Planning processes
Economic incentives
Economic incentives and restrains
Consultative processes
4) In the design of main water pipeline what constitutes the design pressure?
Static pressure
Surge pressure
5) Which majornsections constitute a tender document?
Instructions to bidders
Schedule of drawings
General conditions of contract
Special conditins of contract
Specifications
Bill of Quantities
6) Name any four acts that govern the operations of the Engineering Department in an Urban Local
Authority?
urban council’s act
regional,country and town planning act
Roads Act
Water Act
Cemeteries Act
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
Labour Relations Act
Environmental Act
7) What are the two main tols to control expenditure?
Budget
Commitment register
8) As a Water Engineer how will you ensure adequate supervision of staff?
Give them work(delegation).
Give reasonable deadlines.
Follow upon progress.
Review progress and deadline if need be.
9) List all budget types.
Master budget—it combines factors like sales,operating expenses,assets and income streams
to allow companies to establish goals and evaluate their overall performance,as well as that
of individual cost centres within the [Link] are often used in larger companies to
keepall individualmanagers aligned.
Operating budget—it is a forecast and analysis of projected income and expenses over the
course of a specified time [Link] budget account for factors such as
sales,production,labour costs,material costs,overhead costs,manufacturing costsand
administrative [Link] are generally created on a weekly,monthly or yearly.
Cashflow budget—a means of projecting how and when cash comes in and flows out of a
businesswithin a specified [Link] can be useful in helping a ccompany to determine whether
it’s managing its cash wisely.
Financial budget—it represents a company’s strategy for managing its assets,cashflow,income
and [Link] is used to establish a picture of a company’s financial health and present a
comprehensiveoverview of its spending relative to revenues from core operations.
Static budget—is a fixed budget that remains unaltered regardless of changes in factorssuch
as sales volume or revenue.
10) How would you maintain a budget?
Set financial goals.
Determine your income and expenses.
Determine outgoing expenses,including bills and spending money.
Compare the amount you make in a monthto the amount spent in a month.
Commitment.
11) Differentiate between a Capital budget and Reccurrent budget.
CAPITAL BUDGET RECURRENT/OPERATIONAL BUDGET
Where a business undertakes to Tracks ongoing revenues and expenses
evaluate potential major projects or that occur on a regular basis,be
investments,e.g. construction of a new monthly,quarterly or annually
plant or a big investmentin an outside wages,utilities,rent or lease
venture. payments,e.g. taxes.
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
12) What softwares are used in the design of water reticulation system?
Epanet
WaterMate
HYDROFLOW
Civil Designer
13) What softwares are used in the design of sewer reticulation system?
SewerCad
Civil Designer
Epanet
14) What factors would you want to know on every node when designing water reticulation system?
Inflow
Outflow
15) How would you ensure that workers give maximum productivity?
Communicate set targets to the team.
Communicate individual targets to the team and the resources available for use.
Motivate team and monitor progress.
Take appropriate actions to ensure all set targets are achieved.
16) How would you ensure that locals benefit from the works in the district?
Employment creation(both skilled and unskilled).
Subcontracting of small companies e.g. in plumbing,building,electrical and carpentry.
Compensation to the affected peple.
Rehabilitation after the project.
17) What are the main components that affect pressure for flowing water in a reticulation system?
Gradient
Size of pipe
Material of pipe
Pump characteristics
Demand
Velocity of flow
18) What is a water hammer?What are its effects and how would you prevent it?
Water hammer is a when the velocity of flow in the pipe is altered,e.g. by the operation of valve,this
will cause pressure waves along the length of the pipeuntil damped out by [Link] a pressure surge
or wave caused when water in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly.
How to minimize water hammer?
Gradually changing the velocity of flow in the pipeline.
Install devices to limitb pressure changes,i.e. air vessels,discharge tanks and surge tanks.
Securing loose pipes.
Install a water pressure regulator.
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
Effects of water hammer?
Braek the pipes.
Loosen plumbing joints.
19) What is super chlorination and why it is done?
Is the addition of large doses of chlorine to water and removal of excess chlorine after
[Link] of excess amounts of chlorine to water supply speed chemical reactions or insure
disinfection within a short contact time.
Why super-chlorination is done?
When water has very high bacterial content and generally comes from river source or where
some form of pollution has occurred.
In swimming pool maintenance,because it keeps chlorine content at the right level to effectively
kill bacterias and other contaminants.
20) What is pre-chlorination and why it is done?
Pre-chlorination is the addition of chlorine in the collection system serving the wastewater plant before
other treatment processes.
Why pre-chlorination is done?
Applied to aid disinfection.
Control odour and corrosion.
Help to remove fats,oil and grease.
Reduce plant BOD.
21) What is post chlorination and why it is done?
Is the application of chlorine in the end,when all other treatment processes are completed but before
it reaches the distribution system.
Why post chlorination is done?
Applied to kill pathogens.
Provide a chlorine residual in the distribution system.
22) What is breakpoint chlorination and when and why it is done?
To be researched further
23) What is residual chlorinationand when and why it is done?
Is the low level amount of chlorine remaining in the water after a certain period after its initial
application.
It safeguards against the risk of microbial contamination after treatmaent.
24) How is sewage pollution is detected in water supply?
Test for E-Coli contamination.
25) What are the advantages of PVC piping over asbestos cement piping in water reticulation?
They are durable.
They offer great resistance to corrosion.
Their long length result in reduced infiltration through as there are few joints.
Their flexure allows them to cope with the stress due to earth movement without failure.
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
26) Name the documents that make up a Standard Civil Engineering contract.
The Contract Agreement
The letter of acceptance
The letter of tender
The particular conditions part A-Contract Data
The particular conditions part B-Special Provisions
These General Conditions
The Specifications
The Drawings
The Schedules.
27) What steps would you take in servicing of new residential area?
Primary objective is to provide serviced residential stands.
Public consultation-Environmental Act(EMA).
Envoronmental Impact Assessment(EIA) report.
o Identifies project activities and environmental impacts which are likely to arise.
o Recommend a management plan for all the negative impacts while enhancing the
positive one.
Demarcation of residential stands(cadastral survey).
Laying of sewer and water reticulation pipes.
Developments of roads.
28) Define Project Management?
It is the discipline of planning,organizing,securing and managing resources to bring about the
successful completion of specific projrct goals and objectives.
It is the application of knowledge,skills,tools and techniques to project activities inorder to
achieve project requirements.
It is a formalized and structured approach to manage projects.
It is the techniques and the concepts used to run a project and achieve its objectives.
29) Name any two methods of project planning techniques used in project management?
Forecasting-to lok ahead into the future and predictposssible trends or occurences which are
likely to influence the working situation.
Planning-formulation of a campaign of action designed to achieve the company’s specific
objectives,which will have been devised during the previous forecasting stage.
Organizing-the process by which the planscreated are moved closer to [Link] process
will usually involve deciding how to allocate time and effort within the organization.
Commanding/Motivation-controlling in the management process,however managers have
realized that the use of motivation rather than control is a far more effective [Link] terms
of motivation,managers are tasked with creating the right sort of environment within which
their surbordinates will give their best to the work situation.
Coordinating-the intergration of various individual and group activities which are undertaken
within the organization,to ensure all functions are working harmoniously towards the
organisation’s aims and common objectives.
Controlling-planning both at managerial and operational level,looks to the future and lays
down what has to be [Link] checks whether these plans are being realized,in
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
the event of deviations or short falls,managers can at this stage put corrective measures in
place to remedy the situation.
30) What provisions are made in the contract to safeguard client’s interest?
To be researched further
31) Name the threeb types of tenders and explain them?
Open tendering-allows anyone to submit a tender,is open to everyone who are
[Link] advertises his/her proposed project,and permits as many cintractors as
are interested to apply for tender documents,bids are opened in public.
Selective tendering-it only allows suppliers to submit tenders by [Link] employer
advertises his project and invites contractors to apply to be placed on a selected list of
contractors who will be invited to bid for the project.
Negotiated tendering-are obtained by the employer inviting a contractorof his choice to
submit prices for a [Link] with a single supplier may be appropriate for highly
specialist contracts,usually this is for a specialized work.
Serial tendering-involves the preparation of tenders based on a typical bill of quantities or
schedule of [Link] is a submission made by a prospective supplier in response to an invitation
to tender,it makes an offer for the supply of goods or services.
Single-stage tendering-is used when all the information necessary to calculate a realistic price
is available when tendering [Link] invitation to tender is issued to prospective
supplierin response to an invitation to tender,it makes an offer for the supply of goods and
services.
Two-stage tendering-is used to allow early appointment of a supplier,prior to the completion
of all the information required to enable them to offer a fixed [Link] the fisrt stage,a limited
appointment is agreed to allow work to begin and in the second stage a fixed price is
negotiatrd for the contract.
Framework tendering-allow the client to invite tenders from suppliers of goods and services to
be carried out over a period on a call-off basis as and when required.
Public procurement tendering-for public projects held by government,refers to a contract
published by a public-sector to invite competing offer from suppliers.
32) In many councils there are cash flow problems,can you identify four sources of revenue that can be
raised Council’s Enginnering Department?
Review revenue collection procedures.
Explore income generating projects.
Assess goals for the future and current resource capacity.
Identify income strategy.
Select an appropriate revenue source.
Develop and execute a revenue resource plan.
Evaluate results and strive for improvement.
33) Describe the water treatment process?
i. Screening-is the first treatment station of raw [Link]’s purpose is to protect the structure
downstream against large objects which could create obstructions in some of the facility’s
units,and easily separate and remove large matter carried along by the raw water,which
might negatively affect the efficiency of later treatment procedures and make theirb
implementations more difficult.
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
ii. Pre-treatment(Flocculation and Coagulation)-liquid almunimium sulphate,a coagulant and/or
polymer a flocculant is added to raw water,when mixed with water,this causes the tiny
particles of dirty in the water to stick together or [Link] introducing the coagulant
mixture into the water,this will encourage the creation of large particles of flocs,which are
easier to remove by settling or filtration.
iii. Clarification(Sedimentation)-as the water and the floc particles progress through the treatment
process,they move into sedimentation basins where the water moves slowly,causing the heavy
particles to settle to the [Link] which which collects on the bottom of the basin is called
sludge,and is piped to drying [Link] flocs are removed by [Link] purpose of
sedimentation is to obtain a clear effluent for the filters.
iv. Filtration-water flows through a filter designed to remove particles in the water,it removes
suspended impurities which have not been remved by [Link] filters are made of
layers of sand and gravel,and in some cases ,crushed [Link] collects the
suspended impurities in water and enhances the effectiveness of [Link] filters are
routinely cleaned by backwashing inorder to remove all the materials which is collected
between the sand [Link] filter times becomes too long the organic material which
collects in and on the sand breaks up due to acculation of bacteria.
v. Disinfaction/Sterilisation/Chlorination-water is disinfected before it enters the distribution
system to ensure that any disease-causing bacteria,viruses and parasitesare destroyed,by
introducing small quantities of chlorine into the the [Link] is used because it is a very
effective disinfectant,and residual concentrations can be maintained to guard agaist possible
biological contamination in the water distribution [Link] main reason for adding chemicals
in the water treatment process is to remove turbidity by assisting and speeding up the settling
process,and to correct pH.
vi. Pumping to storage tank-after chlorination,the treated water is pumped to storage reservoir.
vii. Distribution to consumers.
34) Describe the sewage treatment process using Waste Stabilisation Ponds?
To be researched further
35) Design of Sewer?
To be researched further
36) Design of Water?
Physical planning/topography.
Determine present and future demands.
Determine sources of water and treatment processes.
Determine route and pipe sizes.
Determine storage capacity.
Select pump size.
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WATER ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS.
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