Your study path to operator certification
Studying for a water or wastewater operator exam, or just after solid free study material for your specialty? Everything here is free, no signup. If you are testing soon, here is what you are walking into: a closed-book test, about 100 questions, a formula sheet provided, and a scaled score of 70 to pass.
Start with your track, study the subjects in the order the exam weights them, drill the math, then check your state's rules. That is the whole path.
Pick your exam track
Each track has its own study center: the exam's duties and weights, every guide that covers them, the math, and the practice test. New to all of it? What's on the operator exam explains how the test works.
Five duties, weighted. Treatment process leads at 31%.
->Study centerFour duties, weighted. System components lead at 35%.
->Study centerFour duties, weighted. Equipment leads at 39%.
->Study centerFive duties, weighted. Equipment and system O&M lead at 27% each.
->Testing for a very small water system? Start with its exam guide: a single-level exam with its own track.
Every operator guide
All 63 operator guides, by subject
Find your state
The exam is a national standard; the license comes from your state. Tap your state for its grades, applications and renewal rules.
Then compare across states:
What certification costs
Exam, application and renewal fees, state by state.
See the costs tableWhether your license transfers
Each state's reciprocity posture, and the basis it turns on.
See how states handle itThe CEUs renewal takes
Continuing-education hours by state, from the same agency sources.
See the CEU tableWhat's next on the job
Passing the exam is the start, not the finish. The next layer of this track covers the craft of the daily work, and three pieces are on the bench now:
- The physical system on the job: distribution, valves and hydrants, pumps and energy, meters, and preventive maintenance programs.
- Maps, records, and keeping what the crew knows when someone leaves.
- Emergency response, starting with the main break at 2 a.m.
We are writing these now. The certification path above is complete today.
Thinking about the supervisor seat?
Some of you are studying to move up, not just to stay legal. That is a different ladder with its own track: what changes when the system is your responsibility, whether the title is worth what you trade, and how to get certified on your own terms. It starts at the manager's track.
A free resource from Ziptility. We make software for small water systems.