Illinois Water/Wastewater Operator Vocabulary Game

Yes. The game is free to play with no sign-up. Signing in adds AI explanations for any term.

There are 4 games built on 20 IL Water Op terms. In Guess the Term, a clue describes one term and you have six tries to spell it, with green, yellow and gray letters showing how close you are. In Term Match, six terms appear as colored tiles; swap neighbors to line up three or more of the same term, and each match shows what the term means. In Term Pairs, twelve face-down cards hide six pairs of terms; flip two at a time to find each pair, and every pair you find shows what the term means. In Term Search, five terms hide in a grid of letters, reading across, down or diagonally; drag across a term to circle it, and each term you find shows what it means.

OpenExamPrep researched each term from the Illinois EPA content outline and primary sources, listed under Sources on this page. The game is independent study material, not an official exam resource.

A score of 70 or higher passes every Illinois EPA drinking water and wastewater operator certification examination. The municipal wastewater exams (Classes 1, 2, 3 and 4) and the voluntary Collection System exam each contain 100 multiple-choice questions with a 3-hour maximum, running 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The facility-specific industrial Class K exam has 15 questions (5 multiple choice on basic wastewater mathematics plus 10 short-answer/essay questions about the applicant's own facility), and the general Class R water remediation exam has 14 questions (7 multiple choice and 7 short answer). Drinking water exams for Classes A through D run 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. under a 5-hour maximum; the Illinois EPA does not publish a question count for them.

Under 35 Ill. Adm. Code Part 380, Illinois classifies municipal wastewater operators into four tiers: Class 1 (all domestic treatment systems with a design average flow of 1.0 MGD or more, excluding lagoon and primary treatment systems; 6 years of experience); Class 2 (activated sludge systems under 1.0 MGD DAF; 4 years); Class 3 (fixed-film processes and Imhoff tank systems under 1.0 MGD DAF plus all primary treatment systems; 2 years); and Class 4 (aerated and non-aerated lagoon treatment systems; 1 year). Industrial facilities require a facility-specific Class K certificate, and petroleum groundwater remediation systems may instead use the general Class R certificate. A separate voluntary Collection System Operator certificate covers sewer operation and maintenance.