Wastewater Operator Certification

More and more water is becoming polluted and must be treated before it can be used safely. If you're interested in protecting Washington's water and want to become certified, you've come to the right website.

All correspondence and professional growth documents should be mailed to:
Department of Ecology
Wastewater Operator Certification
PO Box 47696
Olympia, WA 98504-7696

All payments should be mailed to:
Department of Ecology
Cashiering Section
PO Box 47611
Olympia, WA 98504-7611

Online Professional Growth Records (CEUs)
You can now go online and view your current and historical professional growth data and print a copy of your unofficial transcript. Click here for more information.

Exciting Opportunity for a Group III or Group IV Certified Wastewater Operator
The Department of Ecology is looking for a Group III or Group IV certified wastewater operator to provide technical assistance to operators and wastewater treatment plants throughout Eastern Washington.

Teach and mentor operators in basic wastewater treatment skills. Assist operators with operator certification training, optimizing process control, process and effluent monitoring, basic laboratory protocols, sampling techniques, sludge management, WET testing, trouble shooting, and quality control.

You will also assist facilities in maintaining lab accreditation and serve as the dual-region technical assistance specialist on wastewater treatment technology in small municipal systems.

Travel Eastern Washington, see the beautiful sites, meet and work with great people.

If you are a Group III or Group IV Washington State certified wastewater operator or if you have a Group III or IV wastewater certification with a reciprocal state - click on the link for full details. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/jobs/NB00010047-2.pdf

Addition to Application
An affidavit of employment page has been added to the application. If you request an application packet, the affidavit has been attached to the application. If you download the application off of the web site, you'll have to print the affidavit separately and include it with your application. Application & affidavit

If we receive an application without the affidavit of employment page, we'll mail one for you to fill out and return to us. The affidavit will streamline the application review process, so please be sure to include it with your application.

When is professional growth documentation due?
Professional growth documents are due when you receive them from the trainer. Make a copy of your professional growth documents, write your certification number on the copy, and mail it to:
     Department of Ecology
     Wastewater Operator Certification
     PO Box 47696
     Olympia WA 98504-7696

More exam questions on ABC multiple-entry exam:
In an attempt to better measure competency of those operators not required to take certification exams in sequence (such as WA State), ABC has asked that a standardized exam for each level of certification be developed that consists of core (need to know) questions along with level/group specific questions. This new exam is called a Multiple-Entry Exam. To read more about it click here.

Kudos Page
We have added a Kudos page to the wastewater web site. This page honors Washington wastewater treatment plant operators and facilities. It has the wastewater treatment plant awards history list, the past few years of news releases for the wastewater treatment plant awards, exam statistics, and more. Click here to check it out!

ABC V&E Committee Vacancies
Association of Boards of Certification (ABC) has vacancies on several of their Validation and Examination (V&E) Committees. The V&E Committees provide essential support for ABC testing activities such as conducting job analyses, developing need-to-know criteria, writing and reviewing questions, and developing examinations. For more information about the committees, click here.

New Database Coming Soon
The wastewater operator certification program is getting a new Web-based database! That means operators will be able to view and print their professional growth data online. Employers will also be able to view and print a list of either all of their operator's or individual operator's professional growth data. The database is in the construction phase and is scheduled to go online in late 2007 or early 2008.

Operator Certification Program Policies
The following policies have been reviewed by the Wastewater Operator Certification Program Advisory Committee. The policies will be reviewed and updated as needed by Ecology and the Advisory Committee. "Certification of Operators of Wastewater Treatment Plants," Chapter 173-230 WAC.

Wastewater Operator Certification Program

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