§300g–8 Operator certification

Summary

The Administrator must publish minimum certification rules for people who run community and nontransient noncommunity public water systems no later than 30 months after August 6, 1996. The rules must be put in the Federal Register after asking for comments from interested people, including States and public water systems. The rules must consider existing State programs, how complex a system is, the size of the system, and other factors so the program works well and is reasonably priced. If a State adopts and uses a program that meets the rules (or submits an existing program that the Administrator does not disapprove), the State keeps its funding. If a State does not have an acceptable program two years after the rules are published, the Administrator will withhold 20 percent of the money the State would get under section 300j–12. A State with its own program can submit it within 18 months; the Administrator has 9 months to decide if it is substantially equivalent, and the State can resubmit within 6 months if it is disapproved. The Administrator must pay back training and certification costs, including a fair per diem for unpaid operators, for systems serving 3,300 people or fewer. Payments go to States as grants. Each State must use the grants first to reimburse those small-system operators. After those costs are paid, remaining grant money may be used for other purposes allowed under section 300j–12, after the State notifies the Administrator. Congress authorized $30,000,000 each year for fiscal years 1997 through 2003 for these reimbursements. If that money is not enough in any year, the Administrator must reserve additional funds from the amounts in section 300j–12(m) before any other allocations.