Free CESSWI Exam Prep

Federal, state, and local erosion, sediment, and stormwater laws including Clean Water Act Sections 303(d), 401, 402, and 404, MS4 and industrial permits, and enforcement penalties. Administered as a separate open-book Part A exam for candidates who do not already hold a current ECI professional certification.

Soil formation, physical and mechanical soil properties, USDA textural classification triangle, water and wind erosion processes (splash, sheet, rill, gully, channel, mass movement), and sediment transport mechanics.

Seasonal precipitation patterns, regional climate variability, and how rainfall intensity, duration, and frequency influence site erosivity and inspection timing.

Hydrologic cycle components, watershed drainage planning, Hydrologic Soil Groups (A, B, C, D), disturbed soil profiles, Time of Concentration, Travel Time, Lag Time, hydrograph characteristics, and runoff estimation methods.

EPA 2022 NPDES Construction General Permit (CGP) eligibility, NOI/NOT procedures, effluent limitations, 50-foot natural buffers, 7-day and 14-day + 0.25-inch storm inspection frequencies, corrective action deadlines, and state equivalent permits.

Inspector roles and scope of authority versus engineer/owner, required skills, pre-inspection document review, inspector support equipment, outfall-first inspection sequence, post-inspection meetings, and compliance follow-through.

Pre-construction meetings, public entrance sign postings, on-site SWPPP document reviews, active BMP failure diagnosis, final stabilization verification (70% uniform perennial cover rule), and Notice of Termination readiness.

Permit monitoring triggers, sampling plan preparation, target constituents (turbidity in NTU, pH, TSS), sampling locations and grab sample protocols, meter calibration, preservation, and Chain of Custody documentation.

Objective field note-taking, forensic photo documentation, formal inspection reports, Corrective Action Logs, site map markups, conflict resolution, OSHA trenching/excavation and confined space hazards, SDS, spill response, and PPE.

SWPPP, ESCP, and SWMP distinctions, certifications and notifications, reading civil plan sets and legends, construction sequencing, contour interpretation, slope calculations (percent, ratio, degree), check dam spacing, and plan amendments.

Purpose, applicability, limitations, installation, inspection criteria, and maintenance thresholds for all management-practice entries in the official Job Task Analysis across Site Planning (3), Erosion Control (10), Sediment Control (14), Runoff Control (14), Good Housekeeping (9), and Post-Construction (18).