Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 10 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Division 60 - Safe Drinking Water Commission › Chapter 14 - Operator Certification › Section 10 CSR 60-14.020 - Certification of Public Water System Operators

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment removes fee language from
				  this rule and adds citations to new fee rule language in Chapter
				  16.
(1) Training and
				Experience Required for Certification.
(A)
				Actual drinking water treatment or distribution operating experience means the
				skills and knowledge acquired from making or acting upon day-to-day process
				control/system integrity decisions rather than from textbook study or
				supervisory observation. It means the applicant has actually operated a water
				treatment facility or distribution system, depending on the certificate sought.
				In addition, the applicant should have experience in some combination of water
				system operational tasks such as: sample collection, routine operational tests,
				interpretation of test results, calculation of chemical dosages and subsequent
				adjustment of chemical feeders, flow rate and pressure adjustments, filter
				backwash, water main repair, disinfection and flushing and completion of
				operational reports.
(B) Equivalent
				drinking water treatment facility or distribution system operating experience
				means skills and knowledge acquired from education as described in this rule or
				work experience that has a substantial relation to drinking water treatment or
				distribution, depending on the certificate sought.
(C) In order to be eligible for a
				certificate, the applicant must have accumulated actual or equivalent
				operational experience and in accordance with Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1. Experience Requirements for a Water Treatment
				  Certificate.
Certificate Level
Minimum Actual and Equivalent Experience
A
Five and one-half (5 1/2) years of water treatment
							 facility operating experience (of which two (2) years may be equivalent)
B
Three and one-half (3 1/2) years of water treatment
							 facility operating experience (of which one (1) year may be equivalent)
C
One and one-half (1 1/2) year of water treatment
							 facility operating experience (of which one (1) year may be equivalent)
D
Six (6) months of water treatment facility operating
							 experience (which may be equivalent)
Table 2. Experience Requirements for a Distribution
				  Certificate.
Certificate Level
Minimum Actual and Equivalent Experience
DS-III
Three (3) years of water distribution system
							 operating experience (of which one (1) year may be equivalent)
DS-II
One (1) year of water distribution system operating
							 experience (of which six (6) months may be equivalent)
DS-I
Six (6) months of distribution system operating
							 experience (which may be equivalent)
(D)
				Years of equivalent experience shall be computed from the criteria in Table 3.
1,
Graduation from an approved one (1) year certificate
							 program in water/wastewaterteckology
1 year equivalent experience
2,
College level course in related field of
							 chemicaftiological/ environmental or allied science or public health (grade C
							 or better)
1 month equivalent experience per three (3) semester
							 hours (maximum of 6 months of credit)
3,
Two (2)-year associate degree in related field
							 (chemical/ biological/environmental or allied science or public health)
11/2 years equivalent experience
4,
Four (4)-year degree or Mglyer in related field
							 (chemical/biological/environmental allied science allied sciences or public
							 healtly, or civil, mechanical, electrical or related engineering degree)
2 years equivalent experience
5,
Department-approved water treatment taining course of
							 at least forty-five (45) contact hours (4,5 CEUs)
1/2 year equivalent treatment facility experience per
							 course (maximum credit of 1/2 years) (For multi-day courses, attendance of at
							 least eighty percent (80%) of the course hours is required to receive
							 credit)
6,
Department-approved water distribution
							 system-training course of at least thirty-five (35) contact hours (3,5
							 CEUs)
1/2 year equivalent distribution system experience
							 per course (maximum credit of year)
(For multi-day courses, attendance of at least eighty
							 percent (80%) of the course hours is required to receive credit)
7,
Successful completion of a department-approved
							 correspondence course of at least forty-five (45) contact hours (4,5
							 CEUs)
1/2 year equivalent experience per course towards the
							 appropriate type of certificate (maximum credit of 11/2 years)
(E)
				Equivalent experience credit will be given for department-approved courses
				developed in a modular format upon completion of all the modules.
(F) Vocational training related to water
				utilities will be considered for a maximum of six (6) months' equivalent
				experience credit.
(G) Upon
				submission of documentation to the department, the number of years of
				equivalent experience for formal or vocational training will be
				calculated.
(H) Documentation
				submitted for actual and equivalent experience credit consideration which does
				not fit previously mentioned criteria will be evaluated by the department based
				on time worked and the relationship to water treatment or distribution. While
				water system engineering, construction, and safety are water system activities,
				they are insufficient experience in themselves to be considered actual
				operating experience. Equivalent experience credit for the purpose of meeting
				the experience requirement is limited to the maximum years allowed in Tables 1
				and 2 of this rule. (Note: The experience allowed for high school equivalency
				under subsection (1)(N) is in addition to this limit.)
(I) Examples of Actual and Equivalent
				Operating Experience.
1. Actual experience
				includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following examples:
A. Experience in performing water system
				operational tasks such as: sample collection, routine operational tests,
				interpretation of test results, calculation of chemical dosages and subsequent
				adjustment of chemical feeders, flow rate and pressure adjustments, filter
				backwash, water main repair, disinfection and flushing and completion of
				operational reports;
B. Experience
				in making or acting upon day-to-day process control/system integrity
				decisions;
C. Working as laboratory
				personnel within a public water system and performing analytical tests,
				interpreting the results and having the authority to determine needed process
				control changes qualifies as actual treatment experience;
D. Providing repair and maintenance of pumps,
				distribution system maintenance, pump station repair, mechanical equipment
				repair and installation, etc. will be credited with actual distribution and
				equivalent treatment experience;
E.
				Consulting engineers will be credited with actual operating experience for
				experience in making day-to-day process control/system integrity decisions
				regarding the water treatment facility or distribution system. In order for
				actual experience to be considered the engineer shall provide documentation of
				beginning and ending employment dates and the time worked involving these
				day-to-day process control/system integrity decisions. A letter of verification
				substantiating the nature of the operating experience from the owner or water
				manager of each system named shall be included in the application for
				certification; and
F. Managers and
				supervisors making process control/system integrity decisions regarding the
				treatment facility or distribution system will be credited with actual
				operating experience.
2.
				Equivalent experience.
A. Equivalent
				treatment experience includes but is not necessarily limited to the following
				examples:
(I) Consulting engineers conducting
				work in design and construction of water treatment facilities;
(II) Experience by individuals who perform
				wastewater analytical tests or drinking water analytical tests for others but
				do not interpret the results and determine the subsequent needed process
				control changes;
(III) Wastewater
				treatment plant operators; and
(IV)
				Swimming pool operation and maintenance involving water treatment will receive
				one-quarter (1/4) credit for actual employment time for a maximum allowable six
				(6) months of equivalent experience credit for water treatment
				certification.
B.
				Equivalent distribution experience includes but is not necessarily limited to
				the following examples:
(I) Consulting
				engineers conducting work in design and construction of water distribution
				systems;
(II) Public health
				officials who inspect public water systems;
(III) Water systems administrative personnel,
				such as secretaries, meter readers and clerks, etc. who perform such tasks as
				meter reading, billing and handling of complaints over the telephone,
				etc.;
(IV) A developer, contractor
				or employee who has assisted in the installation of water mains or the pump
				house, but who has not yet accrued actual experience operating the new
				distribution system;
(V) Experience
				by individuals within a public water system whose sole water system operational
				duty is sampling;
(VI) Plumbers
				will be credited with equivalent distribution experience only;
(VII) Wastewater collection system operators
				will be credited equivalent water distribution experience only.
C. Experience in the following
				areas will be credited with equivalent experience for both treatment and
				distribution certification:
(I) State
				department water system inspectors and engineers working with public water
				systems; and
(II) Boiler water and
				other industrial use water treatment.
3. Examples of work experience which may have
				a relationship to a public water system but are not generally considered for
				actual or equivalent operating experience credit.
A. A superintendent or manager of public
				works, water commissioner, mayor, board members, council persons or other
				management positions will not be credited as having actual experience if they
				perform only general administrative duties and do not make day-to-day process
				control/system integrity decisions.
B. Private laboratory personnel who only
				collect samples from public water systems will not receive actual or equivalent
				experience credit.
(J) Any person not possessing the necessary
				water system experience required for a particular level of certification may
				take the examination. Examinee's applications are not evaluated for adequate
				experience until after they have passed the examination.
(K) Upon successful completion of the
				examination, the individual will have to obtain the necessary applicable
				treatment or distribution system experience within eighteen (18) months from
				the date of the examination.
1. For all
				levels of examinations taken on or after August 1, 2001, examinees shall have
				eighteen (18) months from the date of the examination;
(L) If the necessary experience is not
				obtained within this time frame, the individual must reapply and
				reexamine.
(M) The minimum age for
				certification shall be eighteen (18) years.
(N) Education Requirement.
1. The minimum education requirement for
				certification is fulfilled by meeting any one (1) of the following conditions:
				a high school diploma; a general equivalency diploma (GED); successful
				completion of special department-approved training appropriate to the type of
				certification sought; or six (6) months of experience.
2. Training or experience used to meet the
				education requirement shall not be counted for equivalent experience credit.
				Training or experience used to meet the education requirement is not included
				in the maximum limit on equivalent experience in subsections (1)(C) and
				(1)(D).