Purpose

To explain the documentation a contractor must provide as verification of operational experience to meet the qualifications for a drinking water operator certificate or wastewater operator licence.

Context

One of the primary qualifications for obtaining a drinking water certificate or wastewater licence is experience. A Class I – IV certificate/licence requires experience in a municipal residential drinking water subsystem or wastewater facility that corresponds to the type of certificate/licence for which the applicant is applying. The higher the level of certificate or licence, the more experience required.

Experience information on all certificate and licence applications must be verified (i.e. signed off) by an authorized representative of the operator’s employer who can authenticate the experience. In most cases, this is the operator’s manager or supervisor.

For the purposes of this guideline, a "contractor" means a person employed as an operator who is not directly employed by the owner or operating authority of a municipal residential drinking water subsystem or wastewater facility.

Policy

A contractor who has performed operational duties in a municipal residential drinking water subsystem or wastewater facility and is seeking certification must meet the same qualifications as an operator who works for a municipality or operating authority.

When applying for a certificate or licence, contractors must submit the following:

  1. Completed Drinking Water Certificate and Wastewater Licence Application Form

    The Drinking Water Certificate and Wastewater Licence Application form can be found on the Government of Ontario’s website. When completing the experience section of the application (Part F), please ensure that:
    • a separate Part F is completed for each municipality or operating authority for which the contractor worked
    • all mandatory questions asked are answered
    • the Operating Functions/Duties section is completed and identifies the type of work carried out by the contactor
    • the experience section is verified (signed off) by the manager/supervisor of the operator
  2. Letter signed by the contractor and their manager

    The letter must include the following information for each municipality or operating authority where the contractor gained experience:
    • name of the municipality or operating authority
    • contact information for the authorized representative of the drinking water subsystem or wastewater facility (i.e. Overall Responsible Operator (ORO), Authorized Designate of the ORO, or Manager/Supervisor of the ORO) including:
      • first and last name
      • position title
      • phone number
      • email address
      • description of the scope of work and duties performed under agreement with the contractor
      • confirmation that the company’s operators performed operating functions and duties in commissions or live subsystems or facilities

In order to ensure the integrity of the experience accepted by the program, the operator certification program administrator will contact the authorized representative from the municipalities and/or operating authorities provided to ensure that their records correspond with the information provided on the application form.

For detailed information on operational duties and ministry policy regarding the crediting of experience, see Experience “as a Drinking Water Operator” and Experience “as a Wastewater Operator” found on the Government of Ontario’s website. These guidelines outline the type of experience that is considered operational for the purposes of securing or upgrading a certificate/licence.