DRAFT
BOARD OF LICENSURE OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATORS
March 16, 2006 Meeting
Members Present: Others
Present:
Trevor Hunt, Chairman Rebecca
Reynolds
Alan Frasier Carol
Champagne
Chris Crovo
Teresa Trott
David Beaulieu
David Bartlett
Called to Order:
The
meeting was called to order at 9:10 A.M.
General Administration:
Approval
of Minutes, Alan Frasier made a
motion to approve the January 19, 2006 minutes with corrections, David Bartlett
2nd the motion. Passed
Richard
Moffitt, initially resigned from the
Board. He called to rescind the resignation the morning of the meeting but the
message was not received until after the meeting The
Board has received two new applications for the vacant trainer position.
Exams:
Fewer
people are taking the Very Small Water System exam, which means most small
systems are in compliance.
When
the June exams are scheduled the Board will be able to know if a third exam
date is needed due to the number of applicants.
Operator
Update,
a) Renewals: The number of renewals that went out was
533 with 400+ that have renewed and approximately 100 with no responses. A second letter was sent out informing the
non responders that their renewals were overdue. One of the operators has recently returned
from
b) System
Compliance: Currently there are approximately 73 that need a designated
operator and 9 of those are due to expired licenses.
c) Contract Operators:
Terry will be going to Atlanta in April and will speak on her
experiences with contract operations. In
the last month, two notices of violations have gone out. One was the owner had the well pump pulled
and worked on without notifying the operator. Second we received calls from consumers of a
water system that were out of water. The
owner said the pipes had frozen and had them thawed. No boil water order was posted and operator
was not notified. Neither owner followed
procedure and were sent notice of violation.
It’s the owner’s responsibility to contact the operator. A system’s owner went on vacation and a snow
plow knocked off a shutoff that caused a leak.
The well pump burned up the system went dry and the second person in
charged knew nothing of the operator. No
boil water notice and no disinfection.
The
penalty is notice of non compliance and possibility of a fine.
Numerous
systems have contract operators and guidelines are needed for owners to realize
their responsibilities to public health. The owners need education with a clear SOP in
effect. Having the agreement between the
owner and the operator on file would be a great help because the DWP doesn’t
know agreed upon responsibilities. David
Bartlett suggested an owner training day be offered.
Old
Business:
a) 2004 Rule Change Status: Terry will try to get the
draft by the next meeting.
b) ERG Pre-exam classes, February 2006 had four, 5 week
trainings with an average of 15 or 16 trainees.
March has 4 review classes. May has two, 5 week classes and will begin
again. June will have review classed
again.
Funds
from the ERG will be running out in 2008, with no more funding after 2008.
c) Continuing Education: Terry Trott and Roger Crouse are working on
easer ways to get the process going then through the RFPs.
Example:
·
Voucher systems
·
Funded through
capacity development that is for anyone as long as we get funding.
·
Training
organizations that want to qualify would have to submit their qualifications
for approval.
d) ABC
Conference in
David commented
again on training for health reasons and to draft education for owner and
operator responsibility to public health.
d) EPA’s Conference for Certifying Officers: Terry will be in
·
Status of
National Certification of operators
·
Impact of ERG
positive and negative aspects
·
Rate of ERG
drawdown
·
Ask what is
going to happen for training after ERG is gone.
·
Reciprocity
·
Reporting
requirements
·
On line testing
EPA
would like to license operators online for the possibility of the Bird Flu
outbreak.
New
Business:
a) New England ABC Conference: coming up next month in
b) Point System:
there are changes in technology, Federal requirements, and arsenic
removal etc. review is necessary to assure the point system is consistent with
types of systems that are found in
c) In June the representative from ABC will be at the
Board’s meeting.
d) Larry Wilson spoke on the point system and how it
affects his system with classification. The
treatment process in Ellsworth is not described in the point system, so a best
fit process must be selected.
The
Board will review the point system.
Recent
Correspondence: Rebecca Reynolds received a note from an
operator who doesn’t see the need for two operators when they already have a
back up. The Federal guidance requires
that licensed operators be available during all operating shift.
Status
on Computer Upgrade: Coming along slowly. A lot of work still has to be done to
transfer all the well drillers, pump installers and companies into SDWIS.
The
Drinking Water Program: has been
reorganized into 4 groups, The Compliance/Enforcement/Rulemaking Team,
Information Management Team, Field Inspection Team, Education and Technical
Assistance Team. This will be of great
help to the systems. There will be 2
contact people for each system that will help with all their questions.
Application
Due Dates and Exam Locations
Application
Due February 25, 2006 – Exam April 4, 2006
April 6, 2006 Presque Isle
Application
Due May 13, 2006 – Exam June 27, 2006
Application
Due September 9, 2006 – Exam October 17, 2006
October 19, 2006 Presque Isle
Lowell
Martin made a motion to adjourn the meeting and David Bartlett 2nd
it. Motion passed and the meeting
adjourned at 12:25 pm.