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West Virginia
Water System Operators
Continuing Education Information Index |
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Operator
Certification
To ensure proper operation and maintenance of water treatment
and distribution systems, West Virginia has required certification of water system operators since the 1920s.
The classifications required (I-D through IV) are dependent on the size (capacity) and complexity of the water treatment system.
Minimum operator certification requirements are based on education, experience and satisfactory
completion of an examination administered by the WVBPH. WVBPH provides
regularly scheduled
training sessions and examinations for all operator classifications.
Continuing
Education Requirements
In order to maintain compliance with the
1996 amendments to the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), states were
required to have an operators certification program that included continuing education
requirements. To maintain SDWA compliance and retain primacy for implementation of SDWA
programs, West Virginia revised its operator certification regulations incorporating
continuing education requirements. The revised regulations became effective
July 1, 2001, and require Class I operators obtain 12 and Class II, III and IV
operators obtain 24 continuing education hours every two years to
be recertified.
The WVBPH has establishing the program
elements necessary to implement the continuing education requirements (e.g., what training
will be approved, how many hours of credit will be awarded for various training programs,
how will these determinations be made, etc.).
The Commissioner of the WVBPH will only recognize course work held under responsible
sponsorship, qualified instructors and appropriate to the water treatment field.
Obviously, the course content is the most important factor to be considered when evaluating a
course for approval. The instructor or instructors of
any training program are also critical to the learning process.
It is mandatory for the course sponsor to submit a completed
EW-78 WVBPH Operator Training Course Approval Application Form
completed as outlined in the
EW-78 Instructions
along with all related materials in the format required. Courses must be approved by the Commissioner
and attendance documented by the operator before WVBPH will accept the CEHs for operator re-certification.
Training
Services/Classes
The WBPH provides regular
training sessions for water operator certification.
Numerous water industry organizations provide training necessary for water operator
continuing education. WVBPH maintains a list of
courses approved for water operator continuing education. WVBPH also publishes a
annual calendar of training events for water operators.
Also listed are
approved courses for wastewater continuing education.
Staff
Directory
This site
maintained by the West Virginia Water System Capacity Development Program.
Please address any comments or questions
to the program or the
webmaster.
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