§300g–8 Operator Certification

Summary

The Administrator must publish basic rules within 30 months after August 6, 1996, for certifying and re‑certifying people who run community and nontransient noncommunity public water systems. The rules must be made with States and after public comment, and they must consider current State programs, how complex systems are, and system size so the rules work well and are affordable. Two years after the rules are published, a State will lose 20% of certain federal drinking water funds unless it has and is using a certification program that follows the rules or has submitted an existing program that the Administrator has not rejected. States that already have programs can send them in within 18 months of the rules. The Administrator has 9 months to decide if a submitted program is acceptable; a rejected program may be fixed and sent back within 6 months. The Administrator must also pay for training and certification costs for operators of systems serving 3,300 people or fewer through grants to States. Each State gets enough to cover those costs first; any leftover can be used for other allowed purposes after telling the Administrator. Congress authorized $30,000,000 for each fiscal year 1997–2003 for these reimbursements, and if that yearly amount is not enough, the Administrator must reserve needed funds from other specified drinking water funds before other spending.