McCarty is the Silas H. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. He received his M.S. and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959 and was awarded an Honorary Eng. D. from the Colorado School of Mines in 1992.

McCarty specializes in environmental engineering with emphasis on biological processes for water quality control and the control of hazardous substances in treatment systems and groundwater. He has been an invited guest lecturer at universities worldwide. He holds eight patents, and has authored eight books and an extensive list of professional articles.

His honors and awards include the Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Water Science and Technology, 1997 and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, 1992. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an Honorary member of the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology.