Education Criteria

General Eligibility Requirements

PO certification is offered to operators in four levels (from Class I through Class IV) for water treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection, and wastewater treatment. Each PO certification level has professional and education criteria that must be met. It is very important to understand all eligibility criteria prior to submitting your applications and fees.

General Education

To qualify for PO certification, an applicant must have a record of one acceptable form of general education. The following are acceptable.

• Completion of high school
• Completion of GED program
• Completion of foreign general education program
• Completion of an accredited post-secondary education program
• Completion of a certificate program from an accredited technical education institution
• Completion of a registered apprenticeship program

Applicants with a general education credential earned outside the United States or Canada should submit it for evaluation to the Association of International Credential Evaluators (AICE) or the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).

Applicants should request the evaluation service to determine if the document is equivalent to a U.S. high school diploma. Use of these credential evaluation services will likely require payment and submission of the education credential document.

Post-Secondary Education

To meet the operating experience requirement, an applicant must submit documentation of the completion of the number of months required based on the class level being sought. Experience should relate to the desired certification type or, if applicable, acceptable related experience.

Eligibility Criteria

For Class I and II, no substitution for post-secondary education is allowed. For Class III, and IV, excess experience may be substituted for up to half of the total required education in some cases. Please contact our Certification Staff if you would like more information regarding substitutions.

Allowable Substitutions for Post-Secondary and Continuing Education

If applying for Class III or Class IV, applicants may substitute excess direct responsible charge (DRC) experience that is above and beyond the required amount to meet the operating experience eligibility criteria.

One month of DRC is credited to 37.5 contact hours. DRC experience may only be applied once, DRC experience applied to meet the post-secondary education requirement cannot be used to meet the operating or direct responsible charge experience requirement.

Education for Experience

In some cases, applicants who have more than the required education may use the excess to meet the operating experience eligibiliy criteria for Class II-IV. Applicants may substitute no more than 50% of the total operating experience requirement.

Post-secondary education may only be applied once. Post-Secondary education applied to meet the operating experience requirement may not be used to meet the post-secondary education requirement. No substitutions for the DRC portion of the total operating experience requirement may be made. One month of experience is equivalent to 37.5 contact hours.

Related Experience

Class III and Class IV applicants may substitute direct responsible charge (DRC) experience that is above and beyond that required to meet the operating experience eligibility criteria to satisfy the post-secondary education eligibility criteria.

One month of DRC is credited to 37.5 contact hours. DRC experience may only be applied once, and DRC experience applied to meet the post-secondary education requirement may not be used to meet operating or direct responsible charge experience requirements.

Contact Hours Equivalencies

Post-secondary and continuing education can be converted to contact hours. We understand that many units of post-secondary or continuing education exist and will do everything possible to fairly equate units when reviewing applications and submitted documents.

ONE CONTACT HOUR

• 1 CEH – Continuing Education Hour
• 1 CPE – Continuing Professional Education
• 1 PDH – Professional Development Hour
• 1 RTC – Renewal Training Credit
• 1 TCH – Training Contact Hour
• 1 TC – Training Credit
• 1 TH – Training Hour

TEN CONTACT HOUR

• 1 TU – Training Unit
• 1 CEU – Continuing Education Unit (IACET)
• 1 CEC – Continuing Education Credit
• 1 Quarter Course Credit from an accredited college

FIFTEEN CONTACT HOUR

• 1 Semester Course Credit from an accredited collegeE