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Consensus Reached on New Certification Requirements
Author(s) -
Scheltens John P.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.1997.tb02088.x
Subject(s) - certification , flexibility (engineering) , agency (philosophy) , service (business) , business , operator (biology) , computer science , engineering management , public administration , operations research , political science , engineering , law , management , economics , marketing , sociology , social science , biochemistry , chemistry , repressor , transcription factor , gene
At its October 1997 meeting, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) completed its formal recommendations to the US Environmental Protection Agency on the minimum guidelines for operator certification. These recommendations will affect every community water system (CWS) and every nontransient, noncommunity water system (NTNCWS) in the United States that serves 25 or more people or 15 or more service connections. Under these guidelines, every CWS and NTNCWS will require at least the oversight of a certified operator. This article discusses the NDWAC recommendations for establishing minimum national guidelines for operator certification, while giving states maximum flexibility to administer and implement the program. Since forty‐nine states already have some sort of operator certification program, the recommendations were intended to strengthen, rather than dilute or diminish, existing programs. The article also discusses the baseline operator certification standards as recommended by the NDWAC.