(a) To obtain a license, an individual must meet the requirements of Subchapter A of this chapter (relating to Administration of Occupational Licenses and Registrations), and the following requirements for each class of license, and pass an examination.
(b) An individual who applies for a Class C, B, or A license, and relies on a bachelor's or master's degree to meet the educational requirements, must have a bachelor's or master's degree with a major in chemistry, biology, engineering, microbiology, bacteriology, or other similar discipline approved by the executive director.
(c) An individual who applies for a Class C or B license must obtain at least one-half of the total work experience requirement in the specific field for the license that is requested:
(1) for Class C and B surface water licenses, the experience must be obtained through operations activities at the production or treatment facilities for surface water or groundwater under the direct influence of surface water;
(2) for Class C and B groundwater licenses, the experience must be obtained through operations activities at the production or treatment facilities for groundwater source or groundwater under the direct influence of surface water; or
(3) for Class C and B distribution licenses, at least one-half of the required experience must be obtained as a result of operations activities at treated water storage, pumping, or distribution facilities; and
(4) once the work experience has been met from paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) of this subsection, the executive director may count any remaining experience to meet up to 50% of the remaining requirement.
(d) For all classes of licenses, laboratory experience must:
(1) be obtained at a laboratory that is owned and operated by the public water system; and
(2) involve daily consultation with individuals who perform process control duties in production or distribution of drinking water for the water system.
(e) For each license, applicants may substitute either college hours or training credits to meet the experience requirement:
(1) 16 semester hours or an additional 20 hours of training credits are equal to six months of the experience;
(2) Class C applicants may only substitute up to one year of the required work experience; and
(3) Class B and Class A applicants may only substitute up to two years of the required work experience.
(f) Training credits must be in approved courses that include the following or equivalent.
(g) An individual who previously held a Class D license shall not apply for a new Class D license if the individual:
(1) currently operates facilities at groundwater treatment systems of 250 connections or more;
(2) currently operates facilities at groundwater treatment systems serving a population of 750 or more;
(3) currently operates facilities at surface water treatment systems;
(4) currently operates facilities at groundwater systems under the influence of surface water;
(5) performs supervisor, crew chief, or foremen duties for distribution systems that have over 250 connections; or
(6) operates multiple groundwater systems and the cumulative number of connections exceeds 250.
Source Note: The provisions of this §30.390 adopted to be effective December 17, 2001, 26 TexReg 10330; amended to be effective September 27, 2007, 32 TexReg 6523; amended to be effective September 29, 2016, 41 TexReg 7489