1.3 Certification Levels, Education, Experience & Exam Eligibility (Class D-A, Grade 1-4, Class S/T)

The Colorado Certification Matrix

Colorado credentials are built so operators demonstrate both classroom knowledge and hands-on operational judgment. Under Regulation 100, section 100.14, an applicant must satisfy education, experience, prior-certification, and regulatory-training criteria before CDPHE's contractor will approve them to sit for an examination.

Each discipline advances through four tiers, and the letter or number tracks the facility classification it authorizes:

• Water Treatment: Class D (entry) → Class C → Class B → Class A
• Domestic Wastewater Treatment: Class D → Class C → Class B → Class A
• Industrial Wastewater Treatment: Class D → Class C → Class B → Class A (same letters as domestic — not Roman numerals)
• Water Distribution: Class 1 (entry) → Class 2 → Class 3 → Class 4
• Wastewater Collection: Class 1 → Class 2 → Class 3 → Class 4
• Hybrid small-system certificates: Class S water, Class S wastewater, and Class T

---

The four eligibility gates

Section 100.14.5(c) states plainly that to qualify to sit for an examination an applicant must meet all four of the following:

1. Approved mandatory regulatory training (MRT) completed before the application is submitted. Each completion is valid for three years.
2. Minimum education requirements.
3. Minimum experience or cross-experience requirements.
4. Prior certification requirements.

Education

Applicants must be high school graduates or hold a GED. An applicant who lacks either may substitute experience and relevant training, but section 100.14.5(e)(ii) requires both an additional six months of qualifying experience and completion of 1.0 training unit in a course approved as a substitute for entry-level experience requirements.

Prior certification and experience

This is the single table most heavily tested on the Colorado regulatory items. Prior certification must be in the same certification category as the exam being applied for.

Two nuances trip people up. First, section 100.14.5(f)(vi) says the experience you rely on does not have to have been obtained at the level of the examination you are applying for — there is no rule requiring, say, "two years inside a Class B plant" before a Class A exam. The gate is the prior certificate, not where the hours were logged. Second, for Class D, Class 1, Class S, and Class T, section 100.14.5(k) allows the one-month experience requirement to be met either under the supervision of a certified ORC or through successful completion of an approved training course or course of study — but any course used that way may not also be used to renew that same certificate.

How experience is counted

Section 100.14.5(f) governs the arithmetic:

• No more than one year of experience is credited for any one calendar year, regardless of how many facilities you work at.
• At facilities that do not need a full-time operator, an operator working less than half time is credited half-time experience; half time or more is credited as full time.
• Time across multiple facilities is aggregated when deciding full-time versus half-time credit.
• Seasonal facility experience is credited only for the portion of the year the facility operates.
• The experience cut-off date is the date the application is submitted.

Section 100.14.5(g) directs reviewers to weigh whether the work required technical knowledge, whether it was actual on-site operating experience affecting water quality or quantity, and whether it involved responsible charge. Section 100.14.5(h) bars double-counting: experience or training already credited toward one requirement cannot be credited again toward another.

---

Substituting education and cross-experience

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|             THE 50 PERCENT RULE (Sections 100.14.6(a) and (c))          |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| At least FIFTY PERCENT of any experience requirement must be met by     |
| actual on-site operating experience -- EXCEPT that Class D, Class 1,    |
| and Class S applicants may satisfy the experience requirement entirely  |
| with academic credits or training units under 100.14.5(k).              |
|                                                                         |
|   Class C / Class 2  (24 months): max 12 months substituted            |
|   Class B / Class 3  (36 months): max 18 months substituted            |
|   Class A / Class 4  (48 months): max 24 months substituted            |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Academic credit conversion (section 100.14.6(a)(i)):

• 15 semester hours = one-half academic year = 6 months of experience
• 15 quarter hours = one-third academic year = 4 months of experience
• 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours = one academic year = 1 year of experience
• 300 contact hours, or 30 training units, = 15 quarter hours = 4 months of experience

That last line matters: a training unit is 10 contact hours, so 30 TUs equals four months, which works out to 7.5 TUs per month of experience credit — not one month for 3 TUs.

Military training (section 100.14.6(a)(ii)): relevant military specialty training may cover up to 50 percent of the requirement; one week of training equals 40 contact hours, and 240 contact hours equals 15 semester hours, that is, 6 months of experience.

Field of study (section 100.14.6(a)(iii)): a technically oriented program the Board finds directly relevant to water or wastewater operation may cover up to 50 percent; a degree program in any field of study may cover up to 25 percent. Credit is granted by the number of academic years the program requires, converted with the table above.

Cross-experience (section 100.14.6(c)): water treatment experience may substitute for up to 50 percent of wastewater treatment experience and vice versa; distribution experience may substitute for up to 50 percent of collection experience and vice versa. Cross-experience is available only for Class C, B, and A and Class 2, 3, and 4 applications, and at least 50 percent of the requirement must still be on-site experience in the category being applied for.

Worked eligibility evaluation

An operator holding a valid Class B water treatment certificate applies for the Class A water treatment exam. Records show 30 months of full-time operating experience and a completed associate degree of 62 semester hours in water quality technology.

1. Prior certification: Class A requires Class B. Satisfied.
2. Experience required: 48 months.
3. Education credit: 62 semester hours ÷ 30 semester hours per year = 2.06 years, so 24 months of credit is available on the conversion table.
4. The 50 percent cap: 48 months × 0.50 = 24 months maximum substitution. The degree credit is capped at exactly 24 months.
5. Total: 30 months on-site + 24 months education = 54 months, but at least 24 months must be on-site and the applicant has 30. Both tests pass.

Conclusion: the applicant is eligible to sit for the Class A water treatment examination.

---

Application, examination, and retesting

1. Create a CCWP Portal account at portal.coloradocwp.com and obtain an operator ID number. Training providers upload training units against that ID.
2. Enter education, experience, and MRT records in the portal and obtain a green check on every eligibility criterion.
3. Initiate the application and pay the $50 application and administration fee (section 100.17.1). Review takes roughly 10 business days.
4. On approval, create or log in to a PSI account and schedule the exam, then pay the $104 exam fee to PSI (section 100.17.2). You may test at a PSI test center or by remote proctoring if your equipment qualifies.
5. Sit the WPI standardized exam: 100 scored multiple-choice questions, up to 10 unscored pre-test items, a three-hour limit, and a formula and conversion table supplied on screen.

Scoring. Section 100.14.5(c) sets the minimum passing score at 70 percent. Section 100.15.1(d) entitles examinees to an analysis of performance showing the level of knowledge demonstrated for each topic tested, which is the most useful diagnostic available if you must retake.

Retesting. Section 100.15.1(e) allows an applicant who fails to retest within the 100-day eligibility period, and no additional application and administration fee is charged during that window — although a new exam fee applies to each attempt. There is no mandatory 30-day waiting period in Regulation 100.

Certificates from other entities. Section 100.14.5(d) lets the Board's contractor issue a certificate without examination, case by case, to an applicant in good standing elsewhere who has passed a Colorado-approved exam for that category and class with a minimum pass rate of 70 percent, meets Colorado education and experience minimums, earned the qualifying experience in the jurisdiction where they hold the certificate, and completed Colorado's MRT. The application fee for this route is $150.