Job Description

Competition # : 36858

Department: Environment and Climate Change

Location: HALIFAX

Type of Employment: Permanent

Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG

Closing Date: 10/18/2022 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change's role is to protect the environment, human health and farm animals through regulatory excellence, conservation, partnership and promotion. To achieve this, we strive to develop legislation, regulations and policies, process notifications, applications, and approvals for regulated activities based on sound scientific knowledge and expertise.

Our goal is to educate, inspect and enforce to ensure compliance with legislation and regulations. We proactively respond to environmental, conservation, farm animal welfare, and human health risks and work to develop programs and deliver services to enhance protection in these areas.

To know more, please visit our website

About Our Opportunity

This is an ideal opportunity to contribute to the development of regulatory programs for the protection of drinking water for all Nova Scotians. The work we do in the Department has a direct impact on providing safe drinking water for all of Nova Scotia, with a particular emphasis on municipal drinking water standards and regulatory oversight of registered drinking water supplies in the province.

Reporting to the Manager of Water and Industrial Facilities, the Drinking Water Specialist will work in a team to apply principles of science, public health protection, and public policy analysis to develop regulatory programming and support the implementation and delivery of Nova Scotia's Drinking Water regulatory framework.

Primary Accountabilities

As a Drinking Water Specialist within the Water Branch, you will:

• Contribute to the vision, long term goals and strategies for advancing, improving and updating the department's drinking water program.
• Lead drinking water program improvement projects, including regulatory amendments and, standard, policy and procedure development.
• Bring your expertise in drinking water to support our operational division in compliance and enforcement of the program.
• Train, mentor and liaise with other departmental staff
• Liaise with external stakeholders on drinking water programming issues.
• Conduct research and analysis of complex issues, using a variety of data and information sources

Qualifications and Experience

The successful candidate will have a minimum of bachelor's degree and 6 years of experience (preferably environmental science, environmental public health, or relevant engineering).

Candidates must demonstrate the following key qualifications related to experience and knowledge in their application;

• Experience and knowledge of the theory, practice and principles of drinking water protection, collection, treatment and distribution in centralized systems
• Experience and knowledge of decentralized drinking water supplies and systems, including drilled and dug wells, distribution networks and residential-scale treatment systems.
• Experience and knowledge of water chemistry for drinking water collection, treatment and distribution
• Experience and knowledge in assessing human health risk, including skills in research, problem solving, and scientific methodology to effectively address complex technical and regulatory issues related to drinking water.
• Experience and knowledge in using analytical skills to review technical plans, designs, design specifications, technical reports, and related documentation related to drinking water systems
• Superior communication skills (verbal, written) to interact with and communicate at all levels, ranging from inspection staff to senior management, requiring detailed technical capacity and high-level articulation of key issues and perspectives.

The following are assets:

• Graduate level post secondary education related to drinking water
• Experience in a regulatory role related to drinking water, including use and application of Canadian health protection guidelines (Health Canada) and provincial regulatory oversight
• Experience in a utility or regulated drinking water entity

We may assess the above qualifications using one or more of the following tools: written examination, standardized tests, oral presentations, interview(s), and reference checks.

Equivalency

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and Union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as Health, Dental, Life Insurance, Pension, General Illness (Short and Long Term), Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. Click to learn more about our various benefits offering and eligibility criteria.

Working Conditions

This position is within an office setting, with occasional field work or travel to other offices and may require site visits to construction sites and industrial, commercial, agricultural facilities and other business establishments.

Additional Information

This competition is to fill a Permanent employment opportunity based in HALIFAX.

What We Offer

• Career Development where you have access to career guidance, tools, resources, and ongoing training for every stage of your career.
• Engaging workplace. Our Employees feel valued, respected, connected, and tuned in. We have forward-thinking policies and strategies.
• Countless career paths.
• Department Specific Flexible working schedules

Pay Grade: PR 17

Salary Range: $3,001.65 - $3,525.41 Bi-Weekly

Employment Equity Statement:

Our goal is to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. The Government of Nova Scotia has an Employment Equity Policy, and we welcome applications from Indigenous People, African Nova Scotians and Other Racially Visible Persons, Persons with Disabilities and Women in occupations or positions where they are under-represented. If you are a member of one of these equity groups, you are encouraged to self-identify on your electronic application.

This is a bargaining unit position initially restricted to current civil service employees represented by the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union (NSGEU). If applying from outside a government office, employees must apply correctly via this link:

Failure to apply correctly means that your application will not be given first consideration as a bargaining unit applicant, and will only be included if external applications are pursued.

External applicants and current casual employees will only be considered if there are no qualified civil service bargaining unit candidates. PLEASE NOTE: Candidates will not be considered for an interview if applications are incomplete or are missing information.

Offer of employment is conditional upon the completion of all applicable background checks and confirmation of credentials, the results of which must be satisfactory to the employer. We thank all applicants for the interest, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. All questions and concerns may be directed to Competitions@novascotia.ca.