Recommendations Resulting From A Meeting Held On November 17 And 18, 1998

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #1:

As evidenced by an Attorney General's certification, or certification from delegated counsel, the State must have the legal authority to implement the program requiring the certification of operators of all community and nontransient noncommunity water systems and to require that the systems comply with the appropriate requirements of the program.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #2:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, a State's program must meet the following requirements:

• It must classify and rank all community and nontransient noncommunity water systems based on indicators of potential health risk which for example may include such as but not limited to: (a) complexity, size, and source water, etc. for treatment facilities, and, (b) complexity, and size, etc. for distribution systems.

• It must require owners of all community and nontransient noncommunity water systems to place the direct supervision of their water system, including each treatment facility and/or distribution system, under the responsible charge of an operator(s) holding a valid certification equal to or greater than the classification of the treatment facility and/or distribution system.

• It must require, at a minimum, that the operator(s) in responsible charge or equivalent must hold a valid certification equal to or greater than the classification of their water system, including each treatment facility and distribution system, as determined by the State.

• It must require that all operating personnel making process control/system integrity decisions about water quality or quantity that affect public health be certified.

• It must require that a designated certified operator must be available for each operating shift.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #3:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, States must require operator applicants to:

• Take and pass an exam that demonstrates that the applicant has the necessary skills, knowledge, ability and judgement as appropriate for the classification. All exam questions must be State validated to ensure no illegal bias, and they must be based on a job analysis and related to the classification of the system or facility.

• Have a high school diploma or a general equivalency diploma (GED).

Have the defined minimum amount of on-the-job experience for each appropriate level of certification. The amount of experience required increases with each classification level. Experience that is used to meet the experience requirement for any class of certification may not be substituted for education. Education that is used to meet the education requirement for any class of certification may not be substituted for experience.

States may allow experience and/or relevant training to be substituted for a high school diploma or GED. Post high school education may be substituted for experience. Credit may be given for experience in a related field (e.g., wastewater). Experience and education may not be used more than once as a substitution.

Recommended Definition

Validated Exam--An independent review by subject matter experts to ensure exams are based on a job analysis and related to the classification of the system or facility.

Grandparenting (under baseline Standard #3)

Recommended Revised Language for Grandparenting

EPA recognizes that there are many competent small system operators that may not meet the initial requirements to become certified. EPA believes that some States may need a transition period to allow these operators to continue to operate the system become certified and that this can be accomplished through "grandparenting" the requirements in some circumstances. It is recommended that grandparenting determinations be based on factors such as system compliance history, operator experience and knowledge, system complexity, and lack of treatment.

If States choose to include a grandparenting provision in their programs, it must include the following requirements:

• During this initial transition period, grandparenting is permitted only to existing Operator(s) in Responsible Charge of existing systems which, because of State law changes to meet these guidelines, must for the first time have a certified operator.

• There are two options offered for consideration and comment concerning the time period within which a system must apply to the State for grandparenting.Because a clear consensus was not achieved during the deliberations of the work groupsboth options are presented here.

(1) The system must apply for grandparenting for the operator(s) in responsible charge within two years of the effective date of the State's regulation; or

(2) The system must apply for grandparenting within one year of the effective date of the State's regulation.

• Grandparenting shall be site-specific and non-transferable.

• After an operator is grandparented, he or she must, within some time period specified by the State, meet all requirements for to obtain certification renewal including the payment of any necessary fees, acquiring necessary training to meet the renewal requirements, and demonstrating the skills, knowledge, ability and judgement for that classification.

• If the classification of the plant or distribution system changes to a higher level, then the grandparented certification will no longer be valid.
• If a grandparented operator chooses to work for a different water system, he or she must meet the initial certification requirements.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #4:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, the State agency with primary enforcement responsibility for the Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) Program must have regulations requiring community water systems and nontransient noncommunity water systems to comply with State operator certification requirements. In nonprimacy States, the Governor shall determine which State Agency shall have this responsibility. States must have appropriate enforcement capabilities for example such as, but not limited to: administrative orders, bilateral compliance agreements, criminal or civil administrative penalties, and/or stipulated penalties.

States must have the ability to revoke operator certifications.

States must also have the ability to suspend operator certifications or take other appropriate enforcement action for operator misconduct. Examples include such as, but not limited to: fraud, falsification of application, falsification of operating records, gross negligence in operation, incompetence, or failure to use reasonable care or judgement in the performance of duties.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #5:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, the State must establish training requirements for renewal based on the level of certification held by the operator.

States must require operators to acquire necessary amounts and types of approved training. States may determine other requirements as deemed necessary.

States must have a fixed cycle of renewal not to exceed three years.

The State must require an consider a certificate to have lapsed and the individual must recertify individual to recertify if the individual fails to renew or qualify for renewal and is beyond a grace period (not to exceed two years) within two years of the date that the certificate expired.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #6:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, the States must provide sufficient resources to adequately fund and sustain the operator certification program (components include including components such as, but are not limited to: staff, data management, testing, enforcement, administration, and training approval). EPA recommends that States establish a dedicated fund that is self-sufficient.

Recommended Revised Language to Baseline Standard #7:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, the States must have a process for recertification of individuals whose certification has expired for a period exceeding two years lapsed. This process must include: review of the individual's experience and training, and reexamination. An individual is not certified with an expired certificate. The State must consider the certificate to have lapsed and the individual must recertify, if the individual fails to renew or qualify for renewal and is beyond a grace period (not to exceed 2 years). The State may develop more stringent requirements for recertification for individuals whose certifications have expired, been revoked, or been suspended.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #8:

Stakeholder involvement is important to the public health objectives of the program. It helps to ensure the relevancy and validity of the program, and the confidence of all interested parties.

To avoid DWSRF withholding, States must include ongoing stakeholder involvement in the revision and operations of State operator certification programs. Public comment on rule revisions is not adequate stakeholder involvement. A stakeholder board or advisory committee is strongly recommended. Examples of stakeholders may include but are not limited to: operators, environmental/public health groups, the general public, consumer groups, technical assistance providers, utility managers, trainers, etc.

Recommended Revised Language for Baseline Standard #9:

To avoid DWSRF withholding, States must perform reviews of their operator certification programs. EPA recommends that States perform periodic internal reviews and occasional external/peer reviews. Examples of items to reviews include: regulations, exams and exam scores for bias, exam items for relevancy and validity, compliance, enforcement, budget and staffing, training relevancy, training needs through examination performance, and data management system.

Recommended Revised Language:

Not later than two years after the guidelines are published, to avoid DWSRF withholding, States must have adopted and implemented be implementing a program for the certification of operators of community and nontransient noncommunity public water systems that meets the requirements of or is substantially equivalent to these guidelines based on the public health objectives. States are encouraged to submit their operator certification programs to the appropriate EPA Regional Administrator for review as early as possible. Any State that expects to receive its FY 2000 or FY 2001 capitalization grant after February 6, 2001, should submit its operator certification program to EPA by August 2000. Also, any State that intends to enforce its existing operator certification program in lieu of these guidelines must submit its program to EPA by August 2000. EPA must determine whether an existing State operator certification program is substantially equivalent to these guidelines.

Future annual submittals of State operator certification programs to EPA must be submitted either before or with the annual capitalization grant application.

Recommended Revised Language:

(a) Initial Submittal

The submittal of operator certification programs to EPA by States must include the following:

• The State Attorney General's Certification that the State has the legal authority to implement the program requiring the certification of operators of all community and nontransient noncommunity water systems and to require that the systems comply with the appropriate requirements of the program;
• A full description and explanation of how the State's operator certification program complies with or is substantially equivalent to the requirements of these guidelines; and
• A copy of the State operator certification regulations; and

(b) Subsequent Years

• All annual program submittals subsequent to the initial submittal must include documentation and evaluation of ongoing program implementation; and

• A new State Attorney General's Certification, if changes were made to the regulations or statutes.

Recommended Revisions to Language

The Administrator shall withhold 20% of a State's funds that it is entitled to receive under the DWSRF program (section 1452) unless the State has adopted and is implementing a program for the certification of operators of community and nontransient noncommunity public water systems that meets the requirements of these guidelines. This withholding provision will begin two years after the effective date of these guidelines.