Ohio Admin. Code 3745-7-01 - Professional operator certification definitions
Except as otherwise noted, the definitions in rule 3745-81-01 of the Administrative Code shall apply to this chapter.
(A)
.
(1)
(2) "Agency" means the Ohio environmental protection agency
EPA .
(2)
(3) "Automated" means
the ability to monitor and control water and wastewater treatment processes and
the status of treatment components by computer or electronic means.
(3)
(4)
"Available" means able to be contacted as needed twenty-four hours a day, seven
days a week to make operational decisions in a timely manner.
(1)
"Active
instruction" means the time when a professional operator is receiving
instruction. This does not include break time, introductions or question and
answer sessions in excess of fifteen minutes. A professional operator shall not
claim hours on a renewal application other than those received in active
instruction.
(5)
"Average daily
flow" for the purpose of this chapter means the average of the sixty highest
daily flows during any one calendar year period.
(B) [Reserved.]
(C)
(2)
(3)
"Complete application" means an application submitted with all required
information on the form completed and all appropriate fees, transcripts and
documentation attached. Applications missing any of the listed items shall not
be considered complete.
(3)
(4) "Contact hours"
means time spent by a certified professional
operator in approved formal or informal training.
(4)
(5) "Continuous
monitoring" means the monitoring and recording of parameters accomplished by
either meters or manual samples at least every fifteen minutes.
(5)
(9)
"Council" means the professional operator
certification advisory council as established in rule
3745-7-10
of the Administrative Code.
(1)
"Certified professional operator"
or "professional operator" means an individual
with valid certification issued pursuant to this chapter.
(2)
"Certified
professional operator of record" or "professional operator of record" means the
on-site certified professional operator or one of the on-site certified
professional operators responsible for the technical operation of one or more
of the following:
(a)
A public water system.
(b)
A water treatment
plant, if a public water system has more than one water treatment plant.
(c)
A
distribution system.
(d)
A sewerage system.
(e)
A treatment
works.
(f)
A wastewater treatment facility, if a treatment works
has more than one wastewater treatment facility.
(6)
"Contract
operations company" means a person which has been approved by the director to
employ or subcontract with certified professional operators and contracts with
public water systems or wastewater treatment facilities to provide the
professional operator services required by this chapter.
(7)
"Contracted
professional operator" means an individual who either works for a contract
operations company or who individually contracts with public water systems or
wastewater treatment facilities to provide the professional operator services
required by this chapter.
(8)
"Core person ID" means the unique identifying number
assigned to a person by the agency. For certified professional operators, this
number is the middle digits of their certification number.
(D) "Director" means the director of the
environmental protection agency
Ohio EPA or their
the director's
duly authorized representative.
(E)
"Expired certificate" means a certificate which has not been renewed by
December thirty-first of the renewal year. An expired certificate may be
renewed within one year
six months of the expiration date in accordance
with rule
3745-7-15
of the Administrative Code.
(F)
"Field" means the field of practice for which an
a professional
operator is certified. Water supply, water distribution, wastewater treatment,
and wastewater collection are each fields of certification.
(G)
[Reserved.]
"Green leaf
training provider" means a training provider that is approved by the director
to issue trainer-specific contact hour course approval numbers.
(H) [Reserved.]
(I) "Invalid certificate" means a certificate
which expired and was not renewed within one
year
six months of the expiration
date.
(J) [Reserved.]
(K) [Reserved.]
(L) [Reserved.]
(M) "Management experience" means experience
obtained while supervising, directing, or controlling the affairs associated
with a public water system or treatment works. Such experience shall include,
but not be limited to, being directly responsible for plant operations,
supervising operating staff, and being responsible for personnel issues.
Experience gained in the position of shift supervisor at a
Class
class
III or IV facility shall qualify as management experience.
(N) "NPDES" means national pollutant
discharge elimination system.
(O)
(1) "One year" means two thousand eighty
hours when referring to operating experience. This is equal to forty hours per
week for fifty-two weeks. When referring to educational experience one year
shall constitute at least four hundred fifty hours of applicable course work.
(a) "Nine months" means fifteen hundred sixty
hours when referring to operating experience.
(b) "Six months" means one thousand forty
hours when referring to operating experience.
(2) "Operating experience" means time
performing the day-to-day activities necessary to ensure the proper performance
and operation of the equipment or processes of a
public water system, treatment works, or sewerage system. Experience for the
water supply or water distribution examination may only be obtained at a public
water system as defined in this rule.
(b)
(c)
Types
From the
effective date of this rule until one year after the effective date of this
rule, types of experience related to a public water system, a treatment
works, a water distribution system, or a sewerage system that qualify as
operating experience but may count for no more than twenty-five per cent of the
operating experience requirement of each field include the following:
(c)
(e)
The
From the
effective date of this rule until one year after the effective date of this
rule, the following types of experience related to a public water system,
a treatment works, a water distribution system, or a sewerage system shall not
qualify as operating experience.
:
(a)
Types
From the
effective date of this rule until one year after the effective date of this
rule, types of experience related to a public water system, a treatment
works, a water distribution system, or a sewerage system that qualify as
operating experience include the following:
(i) Experience while in the military with
providing potable water or wastewater treatment.
(ii) On-site investigations and inspections
of operations that require coordination of work with active treatment
processes, collection, or distribution systems.
(iii) Laboratory analyses if the analyses are
conducted in the laboratory of the owner of a public water system, treatment
works or sewerage system.
(iv)
Construction inspection and engineering design that require coordination of the
inspection or design with the operation of the active treatment processes,
collection, or distribution systems.
(v) Industrial wastewater
treatment.
(b)
Beginning one year after the effective date of this
rule, types of experience related to a public water system, a treatment works,
a water distribution system, or a sewerage system that qualify as operating
experience include the following:
(i)
Experience while in the military with providing potable
water or wastewater treatment.
(ii)
On-site
investigations and inspections of operations that require coordination of work
with active treatment processes, collection, or distribution
systems.
(iii)
Hands-on operation and maintenance of a public water
system, a treatment works, a water distribution system or a sewerage
system.
(iv)
Experience in ensuring compliance with primary and
secondary maximum contaminant levels, action levels and permit limits through
the evaluation of facility process control parameters.
(v)
Industrial
wastewater treatment.
(i) Sludge handling or hauling, if part of a
treatment works.
(ii) On-site
supervisory control and data acquisition ("SCADA") systems
monitoring.
(d)
Beginning one year after the effective date of this
rule, for applicants whose actual job responsibilities solely consist of one or
more of the following types of experience, in conjunction with the applicant's
job description, the experience shall qualify as operating experience but may
count for no more than twenty-five per cent of the operating experience
requirement of each field:
(i)
Sludge handling or hauling, if part of a treatment
works.
(ii)
On-site supervisory control and data acquisition
("SCADA") systems monitoring.
(iii)
Laboratory
analyses if the analyses are conducted in the laboratory of the owner of a
public water system, treatment works or sewerage system.
(iv)
Pretreatment, if
part of a treatment works or sewerage system, where pretreatment is the only
job duty.
(v)
Collection system experience when applying for a
wastewater treatment examination or certificate.
(vi)
Distribution
experience when applying for a water supply examination or
certificate.
(vii)
Construction inspection and engineering design that
require coordination of the inspection or design with the operation of the
active treatment process, sewerage or distribution systems.
(viii)
Source water
protection and watershed management.
(i) Clerical
duties.
(ii) Commercial laboratory
work.
(iii) Sludge handling and
hauling if not part of a treatment works.
(iv) Academic research.
(v) Meter reading only.
(vi) Experience as a laborer, if only
responsible for mowing grass, painting tanks, etc..
(vii)
Investigations and inspections of operations that do not require coordination
of work with active treatment processes, collection, or distribution
systems.
(viii) Construction
inspections and engineering design that do not require coordination of work
with active treatment processes, collection, or distribution systems.
(ix) Off-site monitoring of SCADA.
(x) Septage hauling.
(f)
Beginning one
year after the effective date of this rule, the following types of experience
related to a public water system, a treatment works, a water distribution
system, or a sewerage system shall not qualify as operating experience:
(i)
Clerical
duties.
(ii)
Commercial laboratory work.
(iii)
Sludge handling
and hauling if not part of a treatment works.
(iv)
Academic
research.
(v)
Meter reading only.
(vi)
Experience as a
laborer, if only responsible for mowing grass, painting tanks,
etc.
(vii)
Investigations and inspections of operations that do
not require coordination of work with active treatment processes, collection,
or distribution systems.
(viii)
Construction
inspections and engineering design that do not require coordination of work
with active treatment processes, collection, or distribution
systems.
(ix)
Off-site monitoring of SCADA.
(x)
Septage
hauling.
(xi)
Septic tank maintenance or operation.
(3) "Operator of record" means the
on-site certified operator or one of the on-site certified operators
responsible for the technical operation of one or more of the
following:
(a) A public water
system.
(b) A water treatment plant, if a
public water system has more than one water treatment plant.
(c) A distribution
system.
(d) A sewerage
system.
(e) A treatment
works.
(f) A wastewater treatment facility,
if a treatment works has more than one wastewater treatment
facility.
(P)
(2)
(3) "Precipitative
softening" means a series of processes to remove hardness using lime or any
other chemicals to cause chemical precipitation prior to filtration.
(1)
"Person" means any individual; corporation; company; association; partnership;
the state; or any political subdivision, agency, institution, or
instrumentality thereof; any interstate body created by compact; or the federal
government or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof.
(2)
"Population," for
the purpose of this chapter only, means the following:
(a)
For community
public water systems, population shall be determined in accordance with
paragraph (P)(11)(a) of rule
3745-81-01
of the Administrative Code and the addition of the average of the highest sixty
days for any non-community population determined using the methods identified
in paragraph (P)(11)(b) of rule
3745-81-01
of the Administrative Code. In the event a certificate of occupancy or seating
capacity is used in accordance with paragraph (P)(11)(b) of rule
3745-81-01
of the Administrative Code, an average does not need to be
calculated.
(b)
For noncommunity public water systems, population shall
be the average of the highest sixty days for any non-community population
determined using the methods identified in paragraph (P)(11)(b) of rule
3745-81-01
of the Administrative Code. In the event a certificate of occupancy or seating
capacity is used in accordance with paragraph (P)(11)(b) of rule
3745-81-01
of the Administrative Code, an average does not need to be
calculated.
(4)
"Private sewer"
means a sewer or sewerage system that is not public.
(5)
"Public sewer"
means a sewer or sewerage system that is owned by a municipality, county, or
state entity or any public body created under state law that has authority over
sewerage.
(Q) [Reserved.]
(R) [Reserved.]
(S)
(1)
"Sewage sludge facility" is as defined in rule
3745-40-01 of the
Administrative Code.
(2) "Sewerage
system" is as defined in section
6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(T)
(1) "Technical operation" means the act of
making process control or system integrity decisions which directly impact the
quality or quantity of water or effluent.
(2) "Treatment works" is as defined in
section 6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(U)
[Reserved.]
(V)
(1) "Valid certificate" means a certificate
that is not expired, suspended, revoked or invalid.
(2) "Visit" means a period of time when a
person is on-site at a public water system, treatment works, or sewerage system
that is sufficient to perform routine sampling (e.g. flow, chlorine residual,
and pH measurements), maintenance, and
or observation of a public water system, sewerage
systems, or treatment works in order to ensure compliance and proper
operation.
(W)
(1) "Wastewater" means water containing
sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes.
(2) "Wastewater collection system" shall mean
"sewerage system" as defined in section
6111.01 of the Revised
Code.
(3) "Wastewater treatment
facility" is as defined in rule
3745-33-01 of the
Administrative Code. A treatment works may be comprised of more than one
wastewater treatment facility.
(4)
"Water treatment plant" means any type of equipment, device, treatment unit, or
structure that in some way alters the physical, chemical, or microbiological
quality of the water, excluding booster chlorination facilities within the
distribution system of a public water system that has a
classified water treatment plant . A public water system may be comprised
of more than one water treatment plant.
(5)
"Week" for the
purposes of the rules in this chapter means a seven-day period beginning on
Sunday and ending on the following Saturday.
Notes
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 6111.46, 6109.04
Rule Amplifies: 6111.46, 6109.04
Prior Effective Dates: 02/01/64, 04/17/86, 01/01/99, 12/21/06, 02/23/12, 03/04/16
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