7 Del. Admin. Code § 7204-6.0

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 4, October 1, 2024

Section 7204-6.0 - Operator Qualifications and Classifications

6.1 Applicants for Licensing shall be evaluated by the Board as to education, experience, and knowledge. Further, applicants may be required to give evidence of good character, dependability, interest in work, and other pertinent characteristics in relation to responsible operations. Any person seeking a license under this Section shall submit a complete application to the Department, on a standard form provided by the Department, pay the non-refundable application fee and must have passed the required written examination within the previous three (3) years, unless the Board determines that an alternate examination format is necessary, or when applying for a "Temporary License". Licenses issued pursuant to this Section are not transferrable and shall be issued for two (2) years.

6.2 Delaware Licensed Wastewater Operators - Four (4) Classes of operators are hereby established. The qualifications are intended to relate, as nearly as possible, to the corresponding classifications for Wastewater Treatment Facilities.

6.2.1 Level IV

6.2.1.1 A Bachelor's Degree in science or engineering from an accredited college or university, or equivalent credit hours in any other curriculum as approved by the Board and

6.2.1.2 Four (4) years of acceptable operating experience in Wastewater Treatment Facilities of Class III or higher; two (2) years of which must have been in a position of DRC.

6.2.2 Level III

6.2.2.1 An Associate's Degree in science or engineering from an accredited college or university, or equivalent credit hours in any other curriculum as approved by the Board, and

6.2.2.2 Four (4) years of acceptable operating experience in Wastewater Treatment Facilities of Class II or higher; two (2) years of which must have been in a position of DRC.

6.2.3 Level II

6.2.3.1 High School Diploma or equivalent and

6.2.3.2 Three (3) years of acceptable operating experience in Wastewater Treatment Facilities of Class I or higher.

6.2.4 Level I

6.2.4.1 High School Diploma or equivalent and

6.2.4.2 One (1) year of acceptable operating experience in a Wastewater Treatment Facility.

6.3 Specialty License - where a Wastewater Treatment Facility is of a highly unusual character, requiring skills and techniques other than those indicated by the general criteria, the Board may, with the consent of the Secretary, provide a Specialty License to an operator. Such Specialty License shall only be valid for operating the specific Wastewater Treatment Facility for which it is issued. The requirements for a Specialty License shall be determined by the Board on a case-by-case basis.

6.4 In evaluating an applicant's qualifications, the Board will be guided by the following:

6.4.1 Experience requiring technical knowledge, and whether or not Direct Responsible Charge (DRC) was included. In large plants where responsibility is divided, operators of important divisions may be credited with having DRC, as long as the DRC designation appears on the annual Section 4.04 Form submission.

6.4.2 Experience, to be acceptable, must be the result of satisfactory accomplishment of work. Evaluation may be based on reports of the employers, or by state and local agencies having appropriate responsibilities for supervising systems and facilities.

6.4.3 Partial credit may be given for operating experience in maintenance, laboratories, or other work involving water or Wastewater Treatment Facilities.

6.4.4 Where applicable, education may be substituted for a portion of operating experience requirements as specified below:

6.4.4.1 Where education or training is substituted for operating experience, it shall not exceed an amount which would reduce the requirement of actual operating experience to less than one year for Level I, or less than two years actual operating experience for Levels II, III, and IV.

6.4.4.2 Education applied to the operating experience requirement cannot also be applied to the education requirement.

6.4.4.3 College Level education as approved by the Board, may be substituted year-for-year for operating experience (any Wastewater Treatment Facility Classification). College level education cannot be substituted for DRC experience at any Level.

6.4.4.4 Specialized Delaware Licensed Wastewater Operator training courses, correspondence courses, Seminars, workshops, etc., may be substituted for operating experience on a case by case basis; and the equivalency will be determined by the Board.

6.4.5 Where applicable, operating experience may be substituted for educational requirements as specified below:

6.4.5.1 Operating experience applied to educational requirement may not be applied to the operating experience requirement.

6.4.5.2 One (1) year of DRC operating experience may be substituted year-for-year for one (1) year of college level education.

6.4.6 Substitutions for formal education may be made as follows:

6.4.6.1 Specialized operator training courses, correspondence courses, seminars, workshops, etc., may be substituted for formal education on a case by case basis; and the equivalency will be determined by the Board.

6.4.7 Additionally, the Board may be guided by special circumstances, if appropriate.

7 Del. Admin. Code § 7204-6.0

21 DE Reg. 900 (5/1/2018) (Final)