Retired Army Lt. Col. Paul E. Waters, who taught at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute for 11 years, died Friday of emphysema at Baltimore County General Hospital. He was 72 and lived on Stevenswood Road in Randallstown.

A mass of Christian burial for Colonel Waters was being offered today at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, Liberty Heights Avenue and Edgewood Road.

He retired from the Army in 1968 after a career that included graduation from Officer Candidate School and service in Europe during World War II and in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His decorations included the Bronze Star.

Born in Baltimore, he was a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School and what is now Morgan State University. He did graduate work in history and French at Columbia University.

His wife, the former Doris Blay, died in 1982.

He is survived by two sons, Army Maj. Robert M. Waters, who is stationed in Germany, and Anthony D. Waters of Miami; a daughter, Patricia W. Kidwell of Ellicott City; three sisters, H. Louise Gambrill of Baltimore, Lois E. White of Pikesville and M. Doris Waters of Randallstown; a brother, Raymond Lawrence Waters Jr. of Baltimore; and four grandchildren.