Requirements to Renew a Mississippi Water Operator Certification
Good news: you don’t need to take an exam to renew your Mississippi waterworks operator certificate. Bad news: finding out what you do need to do to renew isn’t very easy. You could spend hours trying to navigate the Mississippi State Department of Health’s website. But you’ll quickly find that it’s a challenge. Clicking the “License renewal and CE hours” link sends you to a page with literally zero information on it.
Where does that leave you? You have options. You could undertake the oh-so-fun task of reading the applicable Mississippi state code — or you could use this guide.
If you’re interested in choosing the latter, here’s everything you need to know about renewing a Mississippi water supply operator certificate.
When renewal is due
Mississippi water operator certificates expire every three years.
You have 30 days from the date your certification expires to submit your renewal application to the Bureau of Public Water Supply. It’s a pretty simple one-page form, but you’ll need to get it notarized.
Alternatively, you can start the renewal process online.
Requirements for Mississippi drinking water operator renewal
Waterworks operators have one main to-do in order to be eligible for certification renewal: complete the required continuing education units (CEUs).
You used to be able to apply wastewater training hours to the water operator CEU requirement, but that credit transfer provision ended on January 1, 2021. Now, you need to make sure you’re taking water-focused courses from a Bureau-approved CEU provider. The good news is that you can get those hours on-demand online (such as the relevant training you'll find here). That way, you can work on them whenever you have time from any internet-connected device.
The number of hours you need depends on how long you’ve been certified.
CEU requirements in the first nine years of certification
If you’re in the first nine years of being continuously certified, you need 48 hours during your three-year renewal period.
12 of those hours need to be on Bureau-approved “Regulation and Compliance” training topics. To make things easier, you can find 48-hour training packages at this link that include that requirement.
CEUs after a decade
Once you reach your tenth year of continuous certification, things get a little easier. At that point, you only need 24 CEU hours, including the 12 Regulation and Compliance hours. Again, you can find 24-hour packages that hit all the Bureau’s requirements automatically.
Once you finish your CEUs, hang onto the paperwork you get. You need to submit the original certificate(s) of completion to the Bureau with your renewal application. Keep some copies on file for yourself, too, because the Bureau can audit you at any point.
Paying the renewal fee
A lot of other states require their water operators to send in the renewal fee with their application, but Mississippi does things a little differently. The Bureau will invoice you for the $30 renewal fee once they get your renewal form. Keep an eye out for that invoice and pay it promptly so you don’t hit any snags in renewing your certification.
Long story short, every three years you need to get the required CEUs, submit your renewal application, and pay the Bureau $30. Do all that and you’ll keep your waterworks operator certification active.