R309-300-5. General Policies

  1. In order to become a certified water operator, an individual shall pass an examination administered by the Division of Drinking Water or qualify for the grandparent provisions outlined in R309-300-13.

  2. Any properly qualified operator (see Minimum Required Qualifications for Utah Waterworks Operators Table 5) may apply for unrestricted certification.

  3. All direct responsible charge operators shall be certified at a minimum of the grade level of the water system with an appropriate certificate. Where 24-hour shift operation is used or required, one operator per shift must be certified at the classification of the system operated. Failure to comply would be a significant deficiency and subject to demerit points outlined in R309-400-8.

  4. The Director, upon recommendation from the Commission, may waive examination of applicants holding a valid certificate or license issued in compliance with other state certification plans having equivalent standards, and grant reciprocity.

  5. A grandparent certificate will require normal renewal as with other certificates and will be restricted to the existing position, person, and system for which it was issued. No further examination will be required unless the grade of the drinking water system increases or the operator seeks to change the certificate discipline or grade. At that time, all normal certification requirements must be met.

  6. Every community and non-transient non-community drinking water system and all public systems that utilize treatment/filtration of the drinking water shall have at least one operator certified at the classified grade of the water system. Certification must be appropriate for the type of system operated (treatment and/or distribution).

  7. If the Distribution Manager, Treatment Plant Manager, or Direct Responsible Charge Operator is changed or leaves a particular water system, the water system management must notify the Secretary to the Operator Certification Commission within ten days by contacting the Division of Drinking Water in writing. Within one year, the person replacing the Distribution Manager, Treatment Plant Manager or Director Responsible Charge Operator must have passed an examination of the appropriate grade and discipline. Direct responsible charge experience may be gained later, together with unrestricted certification as experience is gained. Failure to comply would be a significant deficiency and subject to demerit points outlined in R309-400-8.

  8. The Secretary to the Commission may suspend or revoke a certificate after due notice and opportunity for a hearing. See Section R309-300-9 for further details.

  9. An operator may have the opportunity to take any grade of examination higher than the rating of the system which he operates. If passed, the operator shall be issued a restricted certificate at that higher grade. This certificate can be used to demonstrate that the operator has successfully passed all knowledge requirements for that discipline and grade, but that experience is lacking. This restricted certificate will become unrestricted when the experience requirements are met with written verification for the appropriate discipline and grade, provided it is renewed at the required intervals.

  10. The Commission will review on a periodic basis each system's compliance with these rules and will refer those systems in violation to the Director for appropriate action. Any requirement can be appealed as provided in R305-7.

  11. An operator who is acting as the direct responsible charge operator for more than one drinking water system (regional operator) shall not be a grandparent certified operator.

  12. The regional operator must have an unrestricted certificate equal to or higher than the grade and discipline of the rating applied to each system he is operating.

  13. If the regional operator is operating any system(s) that have both disciplines involved in their rating, the operator must have unrestricted certificates in both disciplines and at the highest grade of the most complex system he is working with.

  14. A regional operator shall be within a one hour travel time, under normal work and home conditions, of each drinking water system for which he is considered in direct responsible charge unless a longer travel time is approved by the Director based on availability of certified operators and the distance between community water systems in the area.

  15. If the drinking water system has only one certified operator, with the exception of a drinking water system employing a regional operator, the operator must have a back up operator certified in the required discipline(s). The back up certified operator must be within one hour travel time of the drinking water system.

  16. At no time will an uncertified operator be allowed to operate a drinking water system covered by these rules unless the operator is within the one year grace period specified in R309-300-5.10.