Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 216 - Department of health › Chapter 50 - Environmental health › Subchapter 05 - Water Quality › Part 5 - Certification of Public Drinking Water Supply Treatment and Public Water Supply Transmission and Distribution Operators › Section 216-RICR-50-05-5.2 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Wherever used in this Part, the following
				  terms shall be construed as follows:
1.
				  "Assistant superintendent" means the individual who is an operator who is
				  responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of a water supply
				  treatment facility or water transmission and distribution system in the absence
				  of the superintendent and who shall have a full certificate appropriate to the
				  type and grade of the water treatment facility or water transmission and
				  distribution system.
2.
				  "Association of Boards of Certification" or "ABC" means an international
				  organization of environmental certification boards which is a not for profit
				  corporation incorporated in the State of Iowa.
3. "Board" means the Board of Certification
				  established by R.I. Gen. Laws §
											23-65-2.
4. "Certificate" means a certificate of
				  competency issued by the Director to an individual to operate one (1) or more
				  specified classes of public water supply facilities.
5. "Community water supply" means any public
				  water supply, which serves at least fifteen (15) service connections used by
				  year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five (25) year-round
				  residents.
6. "Contact hour" means
				  the one (1) hour actually spent in an instruction/training session. In
				  calculating the number of contact hours for a session, the time used for
				  refreshment breaks, lunches and other activities not directly part of the
				  instructional experience shall be subtracted from the total number of hours in
				  the session. One (1) continuing education unit (CEU) equals ten (10) contact
				  hours of training or instruction.
7. "Director" means the Director of the
				  Department of Health or a subordinate to whom the Director has assigned his or
				  her functions.
8. "Full
				  certification" means certification obtained pursuant to any one (1) of
				  §§
											5.9(A) through
				  (D)   of this Part.
9. "Groundwater under the direct influence of
				  surface water" means any water beneath the surface of the ground with:
a. Significant occurrence of insects or other
				  microorganisms, algae, or large diameter pathogens such as Giardia lamblia;
				  or
b. Significant and relatively
				  rapid shifts in water characteristics such as turbidity, temperature,
				  conductivity, or pH which closely correlate to climatological or surface water
				  conditions.
10. "In
				  charge of a shift" means on-site responsibility of an operating
				  shift.
11. "In responsible charge
				  of any field operations" means the supervision of any field operations of any
				  operating shift on a day-to-day basis. Operators in responsible charge are not
				  required to be on-site.
12. "Lowest
				  grade of certification" means a Class 1 certification for Class 1 through 4
				  systems and a Class VSS certification for Class VSS water systems.
13. "Non-community water system" means a
				  public water system that is not a community water system.
14. "Non-community non-transient water
				  system" means a non-community water system that regularly serves at least
				  twenty-five (25) of the same persons over six (6) months per year.
15. "Operational activities" are those
				  involving the maintenance, repair, replacement or installation of components of
				  operational public water supply treatment and distribution systems that may
				  directly impact the quality or quantity of drinking water.
16. "Operational", as it relates to public
				  water supply treatment and distribution facilities, means the part or parts
				  that are performing or able to perform (ready for or in a condition to
				  undertake) a destined function.
17.
				  "Operator" means an individual employed at a water treatment facility or
				  transmission and distribution system whose routine job duties involve
				  performing operational activities or making decisions regarding the daily
				  operational activities of a public water treatment facility and/or transmission
				  and distribution system that may directly impact the quality and/or quantity of
				  drinking water. "Operator" does not apply to an official exercising only
				  general administrative supervision or engineering design duties, such as the
				  City Engineer or an elected Water Commissioner, or clerical or administrative
				  workers involved only in activities such as customer relations, billing,
				  payroll, time keeping, etc. The term "operator", as used in this Part, does not
				  apply to individuals whose only responsibility is to install and/or read
				  meters.
18. "Operator-in-training"
				  means an applicant who has passed a certification examination, but who does not
				  meet the experience requirements specified in §
											5.8   of this Part for the
				  grade of examination passed. Individuals holding this type of certification may
				  not make decisions regarding the daily operational activities of a public water
				  treatment facility and/or transmission and distribution system, that may
				  directly impact the quality and/or quantity of drinking water unless said
				  decision is made in consultation with an operator holding a full certificate of
				  the appropriate type and grade who must be on-site or able to be contacted as
				  needed.
19. "Owner" means any
				  individual, corporation, partnership, public utility, nonprofit organization,
				  trust, unincorporated association, federal, state, county, or local government,
				  or any agency or subdivision thereof, or any combination of the foregoing,
				  owning any public water system, distribution system, and/or water treatment
				  plant. In addition, the owner of the land on which the well is located, where
				  said well is the source for a public water system, is the owner of a public
				  water system. A person or entity who leases the land on which a well is located
				  is not the owner of the public water system.
20. "Person" means any individual,
				  partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation,
				  trust estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility,
				  cooperative, municipality or any other political subdivision of this State, any
				  interstate body, or any other legal entity.
21. "Public water supply" or "public water
				  system" or "PWS" means a system for the provisions to the public of piped water
				  for human consumption, if such system has at least fifteen (15) service
				  connections or regularly serves at least twenty-five (25) individuals at least
				  sixty (60) days out of the year.
22. "Superintendent" means the individual who
				  is an operator who is directly responsible for the management, operation and
				  maintenance of a water supply treatment facility or water transmission and
				  distribution system during all working shifts and who shall hold a full
				  certificate appropriate to the type and grade of the water treatment facility
				  or water transmission and distribution system.
23. "Transmission and distribution system"
				  means a network of pipes that transports, distributes and delivers water from a
				  water treatment facility or well(s) to water system customers.
24. "Water supply treatment facility" means
				  an arrangement of devices, equipment and structures constructed and/or
				  installed for the purpose of the treatment of a water supply.