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Every state runs water its own way.

Certification, compliance, and money for small water systems, answered for the state you actually work in. Start there.

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Certification by state

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Requirements, exams, renewals, and who to call, for all 50 states and DC. Pick yours below.

A free resource from Ziptility

We make software for small water systems. The Field Guide is not that software, and nothing here is for sale. It exists because the people running 500-connection systems deserve straight answers as much as the people running 500,000.

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Three readers, three jobs

An operator studying for an exam, a superintendent keeping the system compliant, and a brand-new board member need different things. Start where you fit.

Operators

You are studying for the exam, fixing what is broken, and trying to get the math right under pressure.

Practice tests Operator calculator What's on the exam

Managers

You run the system day to day: stay compliant, keep people, and plan the money before it runs out.

Compliance guides Your state resources

Boards

You are new to the board and not sure what you are responsible for, what to ask, or who regulates what.

What boards owe the system Who regulates what

A free resource from Ziptility.

Free tools

Built to be used, not bought

No signup. No email wall.

Practice

Practice tests

Original questions, every answer backed by a source. Six exam banks, practice or timed mode.

Operator math Water & wastewater regulations Water treatment Water distribution Wastewater treatment Wastewater collection

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Calculator

Operator calculator

Run dosage, detention time, loading, and the 8.34 relationship with worked steps, not just an answer.

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Reference

Formula sheets

Every operator formula on one printable page, by discipline. Keep it in the truck.

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Featured guides

Learn how it actually works

Study module

A backflow program you can defend

A plain-language walkthrough of what a small utility's cross-connection control program needs to survive a sanitary survey.

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Study module

Activated sludge process control

The five numbers that tell you whether your activated sludge plant is working, and what to do when the sludge won't settle, foams, or rises in the clarifier.

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Study module

A preventive maintenance program a small crew can actually keep

Why PM programs built in a motivated week fall apart by the third missed interval, and what to track, own, and review so one actually sticks.

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Study module

A total coliform positive, worked from the phone call to the all clear

What to sample, what triggers an assessment, and how fast the clock runs once a routine sample comes back total coliform-positive.

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Study module

A valve and hydrant program a small crew can keep

How a two- or three-person crew finds its valves, exercises them without breaking anything, and gets hydrants flow tested and ready for winter.

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Study module

Cleaning methods and CCTV inspection

A plain walkthrough of hydraulic, mechanical, and chemical sewer cleaning and how CCTV inspection under NASSCO's PACP standard documents what they find.

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Study module

Coagulation and flocculation

The first treatment step, taught the way the exam asks it: what coagulation does to particle charge, how flocculation grows the floc, and what moves the dose.

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Study module

Confined space entry and trenching

The gas readings, ventilation steps, and trench depth rules that keep collections work from turning deadly.

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Study module

Cross-connection control and backflow

How backflow happens, which device stops which threat, and how the exam tests device selection and field testing.

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Manager guide

After you win the money: running an SRF project without the loan running you

What actually happens to a small utility's project after an SRF loan closes, from how the money is disbursed to what closeout requires.

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Manager guide

Answer your board's budget objections before they raise them

The four objections boards raise at almost every budget meeting, what each one is actually asking, and how to answer with your own system's numbers.

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Manager guide

Are we running out of water? What your customers actually want to know

A plain-language way to answer the three questions every water customer actually asks, before your next community meeting does.

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Manager guide

Build an on-call rotation your crew can live with

Reported standby and call-out pay ranges, how to size a rotation to the staff you have, and the argument that gets a board to pay for the phone.

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Manager guide

Building a budget that tells the truth

A step-by-step way to build next year's budget from what the system actually costs, not from last year's number.

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Manager guide

Capturing the knowledge that runs your system before it retires

The framework for turning what one operator knows into a record the whole system can use, before retirement takes it with them.

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Manager guide

Climb the cert ladder on your own terms

A higher license can be a raise or a trap, and the difference is whether you chose the sequence or your employer did.

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Manager guide

Contracts, insurance, and buying right

How a small water or wastewater utility buys right, from what bids and quotes are for to what to read before signing and the coverage it should carry.

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Manager guide

Control what comes through the gate

A truck at your gate or an unmonitored industrial connection can undo months of work on your biology, and gate discipline is how you keep control of what comes in.

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Board guide

A water board and the law

A board member's guide to governing legally: deciding in the open, keeping public records, handling conflicts, limiting your liability, and the policies every board should have.

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Board guide

Funding a big water project

A board member's guide to funding the big projects rates cannot cover: the revolving funds, USDA, grants, what makes an application win, and the strings federal money carries.

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Board guide

Keeping a good operator

A board member's guide to the most important person on the payroll: what the law requires, what responsible charge means, and the levers a board controls to keep a good operator.

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Board guide

Reserves and the budget

A board member's guide to the money: reading the three financial statements, the four screening ratios, building a budget that holds, and setting reserves that hold the line.

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Board guide

Setting water rates

The deep guide to water rates for board members: full-cost pricing, the two parts of a rate, how the number is built, the cost of waiting, affordability, and what to ask.

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Board guide

What your water system owns

A board member's guide to your system's assets: what you own, how long it lasts, what shape it is in, and how to fund replacement before it fails instead of after.

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