The New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has readopted
its regulations, N.J.A.C.
7:10A, "The Licensing of Water Supply
and Wastewater Treatment Operators" (Pdf
Format). The regulations comply with the USEPA's
February 5, 1999 "Final Guidelines for
the Certification and Recertification of
the Operators of Community and Nontransient
Noncommunity Public Water Systems" (Pdf
Format). These regulations require all public
community and nontransient noncommunity water
systems to employ a licensed operator by
October 1, 2003. NJDEP's Bureau of Safe Drinking
Water (BSDW) notifies all affected public
water systems of their license classification
requirements.
A Very Small Water System (VSWS) license
classification was created to cover all public
community water systems which do not have
treatment and contain less than 101 service
connections and nontransient noncommunity
water systems with no treatment or treatment
consisting of disinfection and/or other types
of relatively simple passive treatment (e.g.
calcite filters). This license class applies
to approximately 85% of the systems newly
required to have a licensed operator. BSDW,
with the assistance of NJDEP's stakeholder
group, the Advisory Committee on Water Supply
and Wastewater Licensed Operator Training
(Advisory Committee), has developed a curriculum
for a 12 hour VSWS training course with an
associated manual and other training materials.
This course is a prerequisite for taking
a VSWS test. NJDEP has contracted with the
Association of Boards of Certification (ABC)
for VSWS examinations. Several tests have
already been given and the pass rate is approximately
75%.
In addition, there is a new regulatory requirement
for licensees to obtain continuing education
credits for water/wastewater operator license
renewal. Licensees must acquire a prescribed
number of Training Contact Hours (TCHs) over
a designated three-year period for license
renewal. The first period ran from October
1, 2000 thru September 30, 2003. Licensees
must continue to acquire TCHs every three
years (i.e., October 1, 2003 – September
30, 2006, October 1 – September 30,
2009, etc.). The Advisory Committee has adopted
a policy to approve training courses for
license renewal. NJDEP has recognized the
State Operator Training Center (SOTC) at
Rutgers University, the New Jersey Section
of the American Water Works Association,
the New Jersey Water Environment Association,
the New Jersey Water Association, the American
Water Works Service Company, and Hunterdon
County Polytech as qualified course providers.
Therefore, all relevant courses provided
by these entities are approved as continuing
education for operator license renewal. In
addition, NJDEP has approved over 110 continuing
education courses given by independent course
providers for TCHs. Also, NJDEP has approved
the AWWA Online Institute for continuing
education and is currently reviewing additional
on-line training providers.
NJDEP has contracted with the State Operator
Training Center (SOTC) at Rutgers University
to partially subsidize training courses for
qualified licensed operators. We have also
has contracted with the New Jersey Section
of the American Water Works Association to
subsidize their approved operator continuing
education courses. The reduced costs have
made this training more accessible to operators.
In addition, persons who are taking either
the introductory or advanced course to train
operators for water license certification
are eligible for tuition reimbursement. They
may contact Joseph Durocher of the Bureau
of Safe Drinking Water, (609) 292-5550, to
obtain the appropriate forms or submit the
Payment Voucher, W-9 and request for reimbursement
as provided.
OPERATOR CERTIFICATION FORMS
Examination Applications
Training Provider Lists
Training Provider Application
Intro/Advanced Water Course Reimbursement
Operator Duties & Responsibilities
Guidance Documents
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