(a) To obtain a license, an individual must have met the requirements of Subchapter A of this chapter (relating to Administration of Occupational Licenses and Registrations), the following requirements for each class of license, and pass an examination.
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(b) At least one-half of the total experience required for a wastewater treatment license must be in actual domestic wastewater treatment facility operation or maintenance duties. Related experience, which involves tasks similar to those required for operation of wastewater treatment facilities, will count at a rate of 50% toward meeting the total experience requirement. For laboratory experience to be applicable, the laboratory must be owned and operated by the permittee and the laboratory technician must consult daily with operational personnel.
(c) Wastewater collection system experience must be in actual wastewater collection system operation or maintenance duties. Credit for wastewater experience that is not directly connected with collection system operation or maintenance shall be approved if the experience involves tasks that are similar to that required for the operation and maintenance of collection systems. Each year of related experience shall count as 1/2 year of experience. Each year of experience in collection system operation and maintenance shall only count as 1/2 year of experience toward a wastewater treatment facility operator license.
(d) Individuals who request to substitute a bachelor's or master's degree for experience at the Class A, Class B, or Class III level must have a major in chemistry, biology, engineering, microbiology, bacteriology, or another similar discipline approved by the executive director.
(e) For each license, applicants may substitute either college hours or training credit hours to meet the experience requirement:
  (1) 16 semester hours or an additional 20 hours of training credits are equal to six months of the required work experience;
  (2) Class C and Class II applicants may only substitute up to one year of the required work experience; and
  (3) Class A, Class B, and Class III applicants may only substitute up to two years of the required work experience.
(f) The hours of training credit required for a license must be in approved courses, which include the following or their equivalents.
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(g) An individual who previously held a Class D license or higher may not apply for a new Class D license if the individual currently operates any activated sludge type facilities, any trickling filter or rotating biological contractor facilities with a permitted daily average flow of 100,000 gallons per day or greater, or any facility that uses a subsurface area drip dispersal system as defined in §222.5 of this title (relating to Definitions) for disposal of its effluent. A trickling filter or rotating biological contractor is a secondary aerobic process that uses microbiological organisms attached to a fixed substrate.

Source Note: The provisions of this §30.340 adopted to be effective December 17, 2001, 26 TexReg 10330; amended to be effective July 5, 2006, 31 TexReg 5303; amended to be effective September 27, 2007, 32 TexReg 6523; amended to be effective September 29, 2016, 41 TexReg 7489