Qualifications and Pay
To be eligible for an Environmental Services student internship, you must be:
- Enrolled in a trade school training program, college, or university; and
Located in the Portland metropolitan area during the term of the internship.
Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible. We give preference to students studying in a field related to the mission and scope of the Bureau's work.
Environmental Services pays student interns an hourly rate according to your upcoming year in school.
- First year – $18.00
- Sophomore – $18.50
- Junior – $19.50
- Senior and above – $20.50
Both full-time and part-time internships are available. See opportunities below.
How to Apply
Find opportunities and apply for positions starting March 2024 on the City's hiring portal. You may apply to more than one internship; however, you may only accept one position.
Available 2024 Internships
Find all City of Portland internship opportunities.
Business Services
Property and Facilities
Position available: 1 full-year, part-time internship
Are you a critical thinker with high attention to detail? Do you enjoy working in a team and independently? Our Business Services internship may be a great fit for you!
About the team:
The Property and Facilities section is part of the Business Services Group and provides support services to the rest of Environmental Services. We provide administrative and management oversight for 1,200 acres of properties, 9 work facilities, and 1,800 acres of pipe easements.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Review and organize Facilities data
- Organize property files into folders, then box all folders to be sent to Archives Department
- Update databases as needed
- Assist property and facilities team with additional work items, such as:
- Moving staff to new work locations
- Setting up meeting rooms with hybrid meeting technology (assisting Technology Services)
- Assessing facility and property condition
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Experience working in property management and facility fields
- Familiarity with environmental and sewer/stormwater planning fields
- Project management skills
- Project implementation of ESRI database and training development
Revenue Programs
Position available: 1 full-year, part-time internship
About the team:
The Revenue Programs division supports business operations specific to billing, collecting, and extending discounts and financial assistance to our sewer and stormwater utility customers. We work closely with Environmental Services engineering staff to notify property owners when they can connect to the public sewer, to calculate the associated costs and to offer financing. We work closely with Portland Water Bureau customer service to provide support on billing, collecting, and discounting sewer and stormwater fees for service. Support includes policy and program design input, data and technology tools and business process mapping and training for staff. We are continuously improving operations to ensure our sewer and stormwater rates are equitable and affordable for all customers. We recently published an Equity Data Toolkit and are soon to publish a Water Utility Rate Affordability report in partnership with the Water Bureau.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Respond to general inquiries from utility customers and Water Bureau customer service team.
- Support the Clean River Rewards Program, the City's stormwater discount program.
- Process new Clean River Rewards registrations and respond to inquiries from residential customers This will require knowledge of our stormwater billing practices, including calculation methodologies and knowledge of qualifying stormwater management.
- Process new Clean River Rewards registrations and respond to inquiries from commercial customers. This will involve desk audits in coordination with our compliance division to ensure compliance with various stormwater requirements. It may require field visits to verify site conditions.
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Rate structure and our approved stormwater management practices.
- Stormwater rate and discount calculation methodologies.
- How to share information and communication with the Environmental Services Compliance Division, Portland Water Bureau customer service and financial assistance teams and individual residential and commercial customers.
Delivery Programs
Compliance – Industrial Stormwater and Maintenance Inspection
Position available: 1 full-year, part-time internship
Are you interested in learning about the City’s stormwater compliance programs? Do you enjoy working independently? Do you have strong organizational skills with attention to detail? If so, this internship would be ideal for you!
About the team:
The Industrial Stormwater Program within the Compliance Division works to protect the City stormwater system and surface water quality by reducing pollutants in stormwater runoff from industrial and commercial facilities.
The Maintenance Inspection Program maps, tracks, and inspects stormwater management facilities installed on private property as part of new development requirements in accordance with the City’s Stormwater Management Manual.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Data entry of analytical monitoring results from lab reports for permitted facilities
- Prepare, organize, and scan records for archiving
- Assist with paper and electronic file management
- Assist with database entries to document program activities
- Research and update current resource lists
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Ability to read and understand analytical monitoring reports for conventional stormwater pollutants
- Basic understanding of industrial stormwater discharge permit requirements
- Basic understanding of stormwater management facility types and associated operations and maintenance requirements
- Compliance inspection processes for Environmental Services Industrial Stormwater and Maintenance Inspection programs
Operations & Maintenance
Our Operations & Maintenance Group will have 8 opportunities throughout the following divisions:
- Collection System
- Operations
- Maintenance
- Support Services – Administrative Services
- Support Services – Maintenance Planning & Condition
- Support Services – Working Asset Management
- Watershed O&M
Collection System
Positions available: 1 full-year, part-time internship
Are you a self-motivated, equity and environmentally conscious individual? Are you enthusiastic about learning new things? This may be the internship opportunity for you!
About the team:
The Maintenance Engineering section of the Collection System Division is responsible for overseeing the operation and maintenance of the wastewater and stormwater collection systems to achieve three major goals: prevent and/or reduce the number and impact of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs), minimize asset life-cycle costs while providing an acceptable level of service, and sustain the public’s investment in the sewer infrastructure by ensuring that service lives are extended as long as economically feasible.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Review Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) inspections for accuracy of data entry and assemble documentation for engineering asset evaluations of structurally and/or operationally deficient assets
- Assist with field work performed by engineering staff. Take and record measurements, and perform rudimentary surveys and condition assessments from visual observation
- Evaluate conditions of stormwater facilities to determine level of maintenance needed by working with stormwater operation and maintenance staff
- Update the database of CCTV tapes of sewers needing repairs and denote this in the bureau’s Hansen database
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Activities of an Environmental Services engineering section, including condition assessment of assets, evaluating maintenance options for assets, and evaluating rehabilitation options for assets
- Principles of Asset Management including asset failure modes, likelihood of failure, consequence of failure, and risk assessments of assets
- Working in a team environment with opportunities to collaborate with and assist engineers and technicians.
Maintenance
Position available: 1 year, part-time or full-time internship
Do you have a technical background in engineering – preferably electrical or mechanical? Are you able to work well independently as well as in a team environment, as well as communicates clearly, verbally and in writing? This internship may be a great fit for you!
About the team:
The Maintenance Division is responsible for the assessment, maintenance, and repair of treatment plant and pump station assets (including mechanical, electrical, automation and instrumentation), as well as understanding as-built drawings, equipment operations and maintenance manuals, and system/equipment safety procedures.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Assist with field work performed by maintenance and engineering staff by taking measurements, confirming as-built drawings, and performing condition assessments from visual observation
- Review red-lined drawings and compare to drafted as-built drawings (primarily electrical) to perform QA/QC. Coordinate with engineering and prepare AutoCAD requests as required
- Participate in team/stakeholder meetings
- Assist with analyzing equipment and their associated Operations and Maintenance Manuals, including organizing and linking manuals to assets (mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation) in computerized maintenance management system
- Review engineering drawings. Work with electricians, instrument technicians, or maintenance planners to field verify accuracy of drawings, equipment or asset names/labels, equipment part/model numbers, etc. Assist in preparing updates to various maintenance documents such as equipment or system Operations and Maintenance Manuals, Record Drawings, Instrument Data Sheets, and the Treatment Plants Operations and Maintenance Plan.
- Perform other tasks requested by supervisor
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- The concept of Asset Management principles touching on likelihood of failure, consequence of failure, and risk assessments of assets
- How to read and interpret as-builts and project design drawings
- An understanding of electrical and mechanical equipment and associated design and documentation
- The value of communication and teamwork
Operations
Position available: 2 full-year, part-time internships
Do you have an interest in a career as a wastewater or water operator? This is a great internship opportunity for you!
About the team:
The Special Operations Group is part of the Operations Division at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant. We are the maintenance arm of the Operations Division, and we fill in for the liquids group as needed.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Clean and maintain wastewater equipment and facilities
- Help with daily operational duties
- Learn by shadowing wastewater operators as they operate the facility
- Participate in safety-related activities and execute the work orders associated with OSHA and onsite safety policy
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Learn about the wastewater treatment process, equipment, and machinery
- Gain knowledge about Portland's wastewater and stormwater collection systems and its wastewater pumping stations
- Work on a team with professional wastewater operators
Support Services – Administrative Services
Position available: 1 full-time, full-year internship
Do you have a willingness to learn new things and take initiative? Does managing documents/records and organizing data/information seem interesting to you? If so, apply for the internship below!
About the team:
The Administrative team provides customer support to the Operations & Maintenance Group and other bureau employees co-located at the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment Plant.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Plan and coordinate small projects/work assignments
- Provide planning and coordination support for implementation phase of a bureau administrative study
- Assist in managing and organizing records and files.
- Assist Administrative team on various projects and tasks as assigned.
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Learn about the bureau, what we do, and how we do it
- Gain experience working in the public sector
- Experience working collaboratively with a team and independently
- Build your network and references
- Learn how the Administrative team works to support customers
Support Services – Maintenance Planning and Condition
Position available: 1 part-time or full-time, full-year or summer-only internship
Do you have a scientific educational background or have you taken educational classes focusing on engineering/science subjects? Are you interested in water systems and water management with a willingness to learn? This internship opportunity may be a great fit for you!
About the team:
Our team oversees Maintenance planning and asset management for the 2 wastewater treatment plants and approximately 100 pump stations through the collection systems. Work includes data entry and management in our work order management system as well as gathering and reporting field data.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Field data gathering
- Recording data into our WAM Systems, data management and clean up
- Field asset labeling
- Small replacement and rehabilitation project
- Developing statistical reliability models based on existing asset failure data.
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Hands-on experience in maintenance planning and public infrastructure asset management
- Learn about the wastewater processing and cost effective asset management
- Technical experience through engagement with our field technicians
Support Services – Working Asset Management
Position available: 1 part-time or full-time, full-year or summer-only internship
Do you have an interest in data management and data-driven decision-making? How about an interest in organizational change management? You may be a great fit for this internship!
About the team:
The Working Asset Management section oversees day-to-day management of an Oracle WAM V1 system. The bureau is looking to move to a different technology platform and implement Infor IPS. Currently, this team is focusing on data transition and record clean up and management. This team is also in charge of maintaining the existing Oracle WAM system during the transition.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Field data gathering and record management
- Recording data into WAM System
- Data management and clean up
- Workflow mapping
- Organizational change management
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Gain hands-on experience in the data management of a working asset management system
- Learn about data quality and integrity as well as the close relationship between organizational work processes and data unitization for decision-making
Watershed Operations and Maintenance
Position Available: 1 part-time full-year internship
Do you have an interest in natural resource management and watershed health? Do you also have an interest in developing your equity literacy? This team is looking for a team player who is eager to learn. If this sounds like you, this may be a great internship opportunity for you!
About the team:
The Watershed Operations and Maintenance team manages natural areas, implements revegetation, provides technical expertise on surface water projects, and fulfills long-term commitments to restore, enhance and protect Portland’s streams, wetlands and drainageways.
What are the main duties/roles of this internship?
- Project management support for Botanic Specialists and Environmental Specialists
- GIS/Mapping development
- Development of O&M Manuals and long-term management manuals
- Support for land acquisition
- Work on grant applications
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Natural area management
- O&M manuals development
- Land acquisition
- Planning strategy and coordination
- Equity literacy
Strategy & Integrated Planning
Risk Assessment
The Systems Analysis and Modeling Support section of the Risk Assessment Division performs engineering/modeling analysis to identify system deficiencies and provide optimal solutions to improve the City’s Combined sewer, Sanitary Sewer, and Stormwater systems.
What can you expect to learn during this internship?
- Hydrology and Hydraulics principles and applications
- Data collection and manipulation
- Data quality control and analysis
- Using Excel for data management
- GIS application