Meeting Summary
EPA presented to the Partnership flow charts showing the relationship
between the State/EPA Operator Certification Work Group and the Partnership.
The presentation focused on how the two groups will work together
in preparing recommendations on the information package as well as
the operator certification guidelines. After questions and comments,
the presentation was received without objections.
The Partnership reviewed the proposed components of the Section 1420
information package for States. The Partnership reached consensus
that the following five components should be included in large loose-leaf
binders as the information for States: (1) a cover letter, (2) the
"Summary of Existing Operator Certification Programs," (3) the Association
of Boards of Certification document, "Operator Certification Program
Standards," (4) the Executive Summary and Chapter 6 of the National
Academy of Sciences report, and (5) a list of State Drinking Water
Administrators and Operator Certification Program Directors. The Partnership
clearly indicated that the binder and its content be marked not
regulations and not guidelines.
The next item discussed was the "Summary of Existing Operator Certification
Programs". Before finalizing this document, the Partnership concurred
that States should be given another opportunity to review the document
to provide corrections and/or clarifications. Also, the Partnership
agreed that the document should show the total number of community
water systems and non-transient non-community water systems in each
State in order to determine the potential impact of the forthcoming
guidelines specifying minimum standards.
A third discussion item on the agenda was the cover letter for the
information package. The Partnership contributed numerous comments
and suggestions for the content of the letter. The Designated Federal
Officer is to draft a cover letter based on the group's input, and
fax it to all members of the Partnership for review and comment. Upon
Partnership review and comments a final draft will be prepared and
presented to the Partnership for final acceptance.
The Partnership confirmed that the eight recommended key standards
proposed during the last meeting of the Partnership be accepted as
the minimum standards to be recommended to NDWAC. The Partnership
reached consensus on the four proposed standards that were unresolved
by deciding that reciprocity should not be required, coverage and
training should be included in the other standards as appropriate,
and program review should be a standard. The Partnership recommended
that the State/EPA workgroup develop a position paper for the program
review standard.
Three draft position papers were completed by the State/EPA workgroup
and presented to the Partnership for review and comment. The position
papers were for the following recommended standards Authorization,
Classification of Systems, Facilities and Operators, and Operator
Qualifications. The remainder of the meeting was devoted to the Partnership's
review and comment on these three position papers. In summary, the
Partnership made several suggested changes to the position papers
and had spirited discussion on the issues of coverage and grandparenting.
A detailed account of the Partnership's comments will be provided
to the State/EPA workgroup for their consideration in revising the
papers.
