Virginia Administrative Code › Title 18 - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING › Agency 160 - BOARD FOR WATERWORKS AND WASTEWATER WORKS OPERATORS AND ONSITE SEWAGE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS › Chapter 40 - ONSITE SEWAGE SYSTEM PROFESSIONALS LICENSING REGULATIONS › Part I - Definition › Section 18VAC160-40-10 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Section
				  54.1-2300 of the Code
				  of Virginia provides definitions of the following terms and phrases as used in
				  this chapter:
"Board"
"Onsite sewage system"
"Operator"
"Wastewater works"
B. The following words, terms, and phrases
				  when used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context
				  clearly indicates otherwise:
"Alternative onsite sewage system" means a treatment works
					 that is not a conventional onsite sewage system and does not result in a point
					 source discharge.
"Alternative onsite sewage system installer" means an
					 individual licensed by the board to construct, install, and repair conventional
					 and alternative onsite sewage systems.
"Alternative onsite sewage system operator" means an
					 individual licensed by the board to operate and maintain conventional and
					 alternative onsite sewage systems.
"Alternative onsite soil evaluator" means an individual
					 licensed by the board to evaluate soils and soil properties in relationship to
					 the effect of these properties on the use and management of these soils as the
					 locations for conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems, to certify in
					 accordance with applicable state regulations and local ordinances that sites
					 are suitable for conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems, and to
					 design conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems suitable for the
					 soils.
"Applicant" means an individual who submits an application
					 with the appropriate fee and other required documentation.
"Application" means a completed, board-prescribed form
					 submitted with the appropriate fee and other required documentation.
"Authorized onsite soil evaluator" means an individual
					 holding an authorized onsite soil evaluator certification issued by the
					 Virginia Department of Health that was valid on June 30, 2009.
"Category" means journeyman or master as applicable to the
					 professionals under the board's purview.
"Class" means conventional or alternative as applicable to
					 the professionals under the board's purview.
"Contact hour" means 50 minutes of participation in a
					 structured training activity.
"Conventional onsite sewage system" means a treatment works
					 consisting of one or more septic tanks with gravity, pumped, or siphoned
					 conveyance to a gravity distributed subsurface drainfield.
"Conventional onsite sewage system installer" means an
					 individual licensed by the board to construct, install, and repair conventional
					 onsite sewage systems.
"Conventional onsite sewage system operator" means an
					 individual licensed by the board to operate and maintain conventional onsite
					 sewage systems.
"Conventional onsite soil evaluator" means an individual
					 licensed by the board to evaluate soils and soil properties in relationship to
					 the effects of these properties on the use and management of these soils as the
					 locations for conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems, to certify in
					 accordance with applicable state regulations and local ordinances that sites
					 are suitable for conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems, and to
					 design conventional onsite sewage systems suitable for the soils.
"Department" means the Virginia Department of Professional
					 and Occupational Regulation.
"Direct supervision" means being immediately available and
					 fully responsible for the provision of onsite sewage system services regulated
					 pursuant to Chapter 23 (§
											54.1-2300 et seq.) of
					 Title 54.1 and this chapter.
"Interim license" refers to the initial issuance of
					 professional licenses during the implementation of the onsite sewage system
					 professionals licensure program. Such licenses were limited to four years and
					 not renewable.
"Journeyman" means an individual who possesses the minimum
					 skills and competency to install or maintain onsite sewage systems or assist in
					 the evaluation of soil sites as suitable for conventional and alternative
					 onsite sewage systems and to design onsite sewage systems under the direct
					 supervision of a master licensee.
"Licensee" means an individual holding a valid license
					 issued by the board.
"Licensure" means a method of regulation whereby the
					 Commonwealth, through the issuance of a license, authorizes a person possessing
					 the character and minimum skills to engage in the practice of a profession or
					 occupation that is unlawful to practice without such license.
"Maintenance" or "maintain" means, unless otherwise
					 provided in local ordinance, (i) performing adjustments to equipment and
					 controls or (ii) in-kind replacement of normal wear and tear parts that do not
					 require a construction permit for adjustment or replacement of the component,
					 such as light bulbs, fuses, filters, pumps, motors, sewer lines, conveyance
					 lines, distribution boxes, header lines, or other like components. Maintenance
					 includes pumping the tanks or cleaning the building sewer on a periodic basis.
					 Notwithstanding any local ordinance, "maintenance" does not include replacement
					 of tanks, drainfield piping, subsurface drainfields, or work requiring a
					 construction permit and a licensed onsite sewage system installer. Unless
					 otherwise prohibited by local ordinance, a conventional onsite sewage system
					 installer or an alternative onsite sewage system installer may perform
					 maintenance work limited to in-kind replacement of light bulbs, fuses, filters,
					 pumps, sewer lines, conveyance lines, distribution boxes, and header
					 lines.
"Master" means an individual who possesses the minimum
					 skills and competency to install or maintain onsite sewage systems or evaluate
					 soil sites as suitable for conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems
					 and to design conventional and alternative onsite sewage systems.
"Operate" means the act of (i) placing into or taking out
					 of service a unit process or (ii) making or causing adjustments in the
					 operation of a unit process at a treatment works.
"Profession" means the practice of onsite soil evaluation,
					 onsite sewage system installation, and onsite sewage system operation.
"Professional" means an onsite sewage system installer,
					 onsite sewage system operator, or onsite soil evaluator who is licensed
					 pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and is in good standing with the
					 board to practice his profession in this Commonwealth.
"Renewal" means the process and requirements for
					 periodically approving the continuance of a license.
"Sewage" means water-carried and nonwater-carried human
					 excrement or kitchen, laundry, shower, bath, or lavatory wastes separately or
					 together with such underground, surface, storm, or other water and liquid
					 industrial wastes as may be present from residences, buildings, vehicles,
					 industrial establishments, or other places.
"Training credit" means a unit of board-approved training
					 or formal education completed by an individual that may be used to substitute
					 for experience when applying for a license.
"Treatment works" means any device or system used in the
					 storage, treatment, disposal, or reclamation of sewage or combinations of
					 sewage and industrial wastes including pumping power and other equipment and
					 appurtenances, septic tanks and any works, including land, that are or will be
					 (i) an integral part of the treatment processes or (ii) used for ultimate
					 disposal or residues or effluent resulting from such treatment.
"VDH" means the Virginia Department of
					 Health.
Statutory Authority: §§
												54.1-201
						and
						54.1-2301
						of the Code of Virginia.