Definitions

"Alternative onsite sewage system" means a treatment works that is not a conventional onsite sewage system and does not result in a point source discharge.

“Alternative onsite sewage system installer" means an individual licensed by the board to construct, install, and repair a treatment works that is not a conventional onsite sewage system and does not result in a point source discharge.

Point source discharge needs to be defined.  If it includes spray irrigation or UV light or chlorine disinfection systems which are then discharged into a waterway or other dispersal method, no installer under these regulations will be permitted to install these systems.  Otherwise, allow these under this section.

Interim licensing

1. Interim conventional onsite sewage system operator applicants shall have 12 months of full-time experience as a conventional onsite sewage system operator.

Do the regulations specify which systems will require operators? How many conventional systems currently have operators?  It may be very difficult to license interim operators for conventional systems if the requirement for previous experience stands.

Several places the regulations mention experience working with a firm holding a Sewage Handling and Disposal Permit (SHDP) issued by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH).

Please help us understand what was meant by this as we have never seen one of these permits in our forty-plus years as installers.

Qualifications for licensure - installers
Two years experience obtained during the last four years under a sewage disposal system (SDS) contractor licensed by the Virginia Board for Contractors installing alternative onsite sewage systems or conventional onsite sewage;

“under” a contractor?  Does the contractor who holds the SDS license also qualify?  Not stated here!

2. Alternative onsite sewage system installer.  Each individual applying for an initial alternative onsite sewage system installer license shall pass a board-approved examination and shall meet one of the following requirements:
a. Provide contractor completion statements and associated operation permits issued by the VDH, which shall be certified by a licensed individual, for work performed after the effective date of this chapter.  The statements and permits must verify that the applicant had successfully installed 36 onsite sewage systems during the preceding three years, six of which must be alternative systems, three of which must include absorption field designs other than a gravity subsurface drainfield; or
b. Provide contractor completion statements and associated operation permits issued by the VDH, which shall be certified by a licensed individual, for work performed before the effective date of this chapter verifying that the applicant successfully installed 12 alternative onsite sewage systems, six of which must include absorption field designs other than a gravity subsurface drainfield during the past three years.

Who is the licensed individual that will need to certify the completion statements and operation permits?  VDH employees?  Will CS and OP documentation now be changed to reflect this certification?  How about all those jobs performed before July?  Will VDH be required to “certify” documentation for every installer who applies for a license?  I foresee lots of additional paperwork for them and perhaps lengthy delays in acquiring this needed certification.  Installers should (but may not) have copies of their previous completion statements but they rarely see the operation permits.

Qualifications for licensure – operators
Conventional -
a. Have no high school diploma, at least one year of full-time experience as a sewage handler, or one year of full-time experience working under the direct supervision of a licensed conventional onsite sewage system operator or of a licensed alternative onsite sewage system operator; or
b. Have a high school diploma or GED.

How does a GED or high school diploma substitute for a year of experience as a sewage handler or working under an operator?  A high school education does not provide any knowledge of this field of work.

Alternative - 
2. Alternative onsite sewage system operator.  Each individual applying for an initial alternative onsite sewage system operator license shall possess a valid conventional onsite sewage system operator license, shall pass a board-approved examination, and shall meet one of the following requirements:

“shall possess a valid conventional ... operator license” prior to applying for an alternative license?  Why? For those who are already doing this work, it will be an added expense and burden to get a conventional license which they will then have to give up when they get their alternative license. 

 
General suggestions:
Please require anybody who inspects an installation to provide the installer with some evidence of the inspection at the time it’s done.  This could be similar to the inspection slips given by the building department when electrical, plumbing, etc. inspections are preformed.  God forbid a person performs an inspection and then dies before his paperwork is completed.  And if that person goes out of business before submitting the necessary documentation, it may be impossible later to prove that an inspection was done.   This should apply to EHS, AOSE, PE, and anybody else that inspects installations. 
Require that all pages of any system design include a legal description of the property and date of the design.  Most designs we see now have the address and legal description on only a few pages.  This can create serious problems if a set of plans is mixed with another set by the owner, contractor, or designer.  It’s not unusual for a property to have more than one system designed and it’s difficult to determine which papers go with which design. 

Also, a stamp by the approving health department applied to each page of the approved plans would prevent problems with mixed plans.  Currently the approval letter only states the date of the plans and the number of pages (sometimes!)  This is not sufficient to prevent someone with multiple, undated plans from mixing them up.

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KISS! 

Why go to all this “wordiness” with the licensing?  Wouldn’t it be so much simpler to have Class A and B OSEs, Class A and B installers, and Class A and B operators?  Then it would be easier to define the work that each class can perform and their licensing requirements.  A sample might go something like this (gussied up some to make the legalese speakers happy)

Class A Onsite Sewage System Installer (Class A OSSI) shall be licensed to install any onsite sewage disposal system which has been designed by a licensed PE, OSE, or VDH employee.  This shall include, but not be limited to, conventional and alternative systems as defined in this regulation.

Class A OSSI shall meet the following requirements to apply for a license:.......

Class B Onsite Sewage System Installer (Class B OSSI) shall be licensed to install any conventional onsite sewage system as defined in this regulation and has been designed by a licensed....

Class B OSSI shall meet the following requirements to apply for a license....

etc.....

This could eliminate some of the confusion in the proposed regulations.  It would also bring the industry closer to others in the building trades.  The contractors board has Class A, Class B, Class C.  The Waterworks Operators and Wastewater Works Operators use numerical classifications. (Of course, the Class B Installers might prefer a numerical classification rather than be called BOSSI's.)

The transition to the new requirements is going to be confusing enough without making the regulations so difficult to understand.  Many people in the industry are not going to take the time to read and try to comprehend all of this and providing it in a more readable form would be helpful.  Or will there be something comparable to the GMPs to “explain” these new regulations?  They may take another few years to produce and create much contention between parties involved.  Why not try to eliminate some of that at the beginning?