Can Agents Work?

Jobs / Science and research / 19-4044.00

Hydrologic Technicians

Collect and organize data concerning the distribution and circulation of ground and surface water, and data on its physical, chemical, and biological properties. Measure and report on flow rates and ground water levels, maintain field equipment, collect water samples, install and collect sampling equipment, and process samples for shipment to testing laboratories. May collect data on behalf of hydrologists, engineers, developers, government agencies, or agriculture.

US jobs
2,840
Median wage
$64,790 a year
Job family
Science and research

Can agents do the work of hydrologic technicians?

We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:

  • Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
  • Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.

Benchmarks for the job family

These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.

  • CORE-Benchby Princeton UniversityTask level · CORE-Bench-Hard accuracy (public test set)
    95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025
    Solved
  • PaperBenchby OpenAIProject level · Average replication score
    26%IterativeAgent o1-high (36h limit) · 2 Apr 2025
    Emerging

Typical tasks

From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.

  • Analyze ecological data about the impact of pollution, erosion, floods, and other environmental problems on bodies of water.
  • Answer technical questions from hydrologists, policymakers, or other customers developing water conservation plans.
  • Apply research findings to minimize the environmental impacts of pollution, waterborne diseases, erosion, or sedimentation.
  • Assist in designing programs to ensure the proper sealing of abandoned wells.
  • Collect water and soil samples to test for physical, chemical, or biological properties, such as pH, oxygen level, temperature, and pollution.
  • Develop computer models for hydrologic predictions.
  • Estimate the costs and benefits of municipal projects, such as hydroelectric power plants, irrigation systems, and wastewater treatment facilities.
  • Investigate complaints or conflicts related to the alteration of public waters by gathering information, recommending alternatives, or preparing legal documents.
  • Investigate the properties, origins, or activities of glaciers, ice, snow, or permafrost.
  • Locate and deliver information or data as requested by customers, such as contractors, government entities, and members of the public.
  • Measure the properties of bodies of water, such as water levels, volume, and flow.
  • Perform quality control checks on data to be used by hydrologists.
Other job titles for this occupation (8)

Field Technician (Field Tech) · GIS Technician (Geographic Information System Technician) · Groundwater Monitoring Technician · Hydro Operator · Hydrographer · Hydrography Technician · Hydrologic Aid · Hydrologic Technician