The Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage Professionals, in its regulations, allows for the substitution of education for on-the-job experience. The board resides in the Department of Professional and Regulation (DPOR). This substitution of education for experience applies only to Class I, II, and III licenses. Once training is approved, it is assigned so many Training Credits (TC). A Training Credit is equivalent to a CEU. Ten hours of classroom or 20 hours of laboratory training is worth one TC. (Do not confuse this continuing professional education hours which is essentially one hour for one contact hour.) Applicable training offered by the Virginia Department of Health, Department of Environmental Quality, and any accredited (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) Virginia college, community college, and university does not require Board approval.
For the award of TCs, the Board for Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage System Professionals must approve the course before the training occurs. When submitting a training course for approval by the Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators read the board's regulations section that discusses training approval first. The entire regulations can be found on the web. Click on the "next" linkl to section "18 VAC 160-20-150. Approval of training."
Before submitting your packet, make sure that all required information in paragraphs B and C of the above section are included. If not, the packet will be returned without action. Requirements of paragraphs B and C are summarized below.
If the course is likely to be offered more than one time, check the appropriate box on the cover sheet. This will enable you to present the course two or more times without having to seek the Board's approval again.
Training course that are offered for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) for waterworks operators do not need Board approval.
A. Training courses requiring board approval shall be approved by the board prior to commencing in accordance with the following:
B. Training courses for which experience credit may be granted must be conducted in general conformance with the guidelines of the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (Association). The board reserves the right to waive any of the requirements of the association's guidelines on a case-by-case basis. Only classroom, laboratory and field trip contact time will be used to compute training credits. No credit will be given for breaks, meals, or receptions.
1. Organization. The board will only approve training offered by a sponsor who is an
identifiable organization with a mission statement outlining its functions, structure, process and philosophy, and that has a staff of one or more persons with the authority to administer and coordinate a training credit (TC) program.
2. TC records. The board will only approve training offered by a sponsor who maintains TC records for all participants for a minimum of seven years, and who has a written policy on retention and release of TC records.
3. Instructors. The board will only approve training conducted by personnel who have demonstrated competence in the subject being taught, an understanding of the learning objective, a knowledge of the learning process to be used, and a proven ability to
communicate.
4. Objectives. The board will only approve courses that have a series of stated objectives that are consistent with the job requirements of waterworks and wastewater works operators. The training course content must be consistent with those objectives.
5. Course completion requirements. For successful completion of a training course, participants must attend 90% or more of the class contact time and must demonstrate their learning through written examinations, completion of a project, self-assessment, oral examination, or other assessment technique.
C. The board shall consider the following information, to be submitted by the course sponsor or instructor on forms provided by the board, at least 45 days prior to the scheduled training
course:
1. Course information.
a. Course title;
b. Planned audience;
c. Name of sponsor;
d. Name, address, phone number of contact person;
e. Scheduled presentation dates;
f. Detailed course schedule, hour-by-hour;
g. List of planned breaks;
h. Scheduled presentation location; and
i. Relevancy of course to waterworks or wastewater works operator licensing.
2. Instructor qualifications.
a. Name of instructor;
b. Title, employer; and
c. Summary of qualifications to teach this course.
3. Training materials
a. Course objectives. A listing of the course objectives stated in terms of the skills,
knowledge, or attitude the participant will be able to demonstrate as a result of the
training.
b. Course outline. A detailed outline showing the planned activities that will occur
during the training course, including major topics, planned presentation sequence, laboratory and field activities, audio-visual presentation, and other major activities.
c. Course reference ma terials. A list of the name, publisher and publication date for commercially available publications. For reference materials developed by the course sponsor or available exclusively through the course, a copy of the reference.
d. Audio-visual support materials. A listing of any commercially available audio-visual support material that will be used in the program. A brief description of any sponsor or instructor generated audio-visual material that will be used.
e. Handouts. Identification of all commercially available handout materials that will
be used; as well as copies of all other planned handouts.
4. Determination of successful completion. A description of the means that will be used to assess the learning of each participant to determine successful completion of the training
program, such as examinations, projects, personal evaluations by the instructor, or other
recognized evaluation techniques.
D. Recurring training programs. If there are plans to present the same course of instruction
routinely at multiple locations with only minor modifications and changes, the board may
approve the overall program rather than individual presentations if so requested by the sponsor.
1. The board shall consider all of the information listed above except those items related to specific offerings of the course.
2. Board approval may be granted for a specific period of time or for an indefinite period.
3. Board approval will apply only to those specific offerings certified by the sponsoring
organization as having been conducted by instructors meeting the established criteria and in accordance with the board-approved course outlines and objectives.
4. To maintain approval of the program, changes made to the program since its approval must be submitted.
Application for Training Course Approval by the Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators and Onsite Sewage Professionals (both in MS Word and PDF formats)
Do not mail to the address on the form. Instead mail to DPOR's new office address:
Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
9960 Mayland Drive
Suite 400
Richmond, VA 23233-1463
For further information contact the Licensing Section: (804) 367-2176
