September 2020
EPA is developing an emergency survey to gauge the current and anticipated economic and operational challenges faced by the nation’s drinking water and wastewater system during the coronavirus (COVID-19) national health emergency.
A goal of the information collection is to assess whether water sector utilities have sufficient resources to continue operations and provide safe drinking water and wastewater treatment during the COVID-19 national emergency. An equally important goal is to collect information that would facilitate planning for a rapid response, if necessary. It is anticipated that respondents will consist of community water systems (CWSs) and publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) of all sizes (including American Indian and Alaska Native Village utilities), and that utilities with both drinking water and wastewater services may be included in the survey.
The survey will be administered on-line and consists of questions that address workforce, supply chain, financial, and analytical impacts. EPA has drawn a statistically representative sample of approximately 4,650 systems to participate in the survey and is also close to finalizing the questions and the on-line survey form. EPA hopes to administer the online survey in early September and recipients will have approximately two weeks to respond. Since this is a limited national survey not all Maine facilities will receive a survey. If your facility does receive a survey, you are encouraged to participate as this information may potentially influence future federal funding initiatives.
1. What is the incubation temperature for E.coli samples using the membrane filtration or IDEXX test methods?
a. 100 degrees C +/- 5 degrees C
b. 37 degrees F +/- 1 degrees F
c. 35 degrees C +/- 0.5 degrees C
d. 44.5 degrees C +/- 0.2 degrees C
2. How long are fecal coliform samples incubated using the IDEXX Colilert-18 test method?
a. 24-28 hours
b. 18-22 hours
c. A couple days
d. 6-8 hours
3. What indicates a positive result for E.coli when using IDEXX Colilert test method?
a. Wells that are yellow AND fluorescent under 365 nm UV light
b. Wells that are yellow OR fluorescent under 365 nm UV light
c. Wells that turn cloudy after incubation
d. Wells that are yellow but do not fluoresce under 365 nm UV light
4. What color colonies are considered positive for fecal coliform when using membrane filtration method SM9222D?
a. Red or magenta
b. Blue
c. Gray
d. All colonies are probably fecal coliform
5. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a good indicator organism?
a. An organism that is readily cultured on standard culture media
b. An organism that has the same or greater survival than the organisms of concern
c. An organism that poses a significant health risk to laboratory workers
d. An organism that is present in equal to or great numbers than the organism of concern
6. A Geometric mean (Geomean) is:
a. Used for reporting the monthly average pH
b. The same as a straight average
c. Used for E.coli and fecal coliform reporting because it tends to dampen the effect of very high or low values
d. Helpful when analyzing bacteria concentrations that may vary anywhere from 10 to 10,000-fold over a given period.
e. Answers C & D
7. The E. coli results (#/100 mL) for an activated sludge plant for the month of July were 9.6, 7.3, 220, 5.2, 9.8, 9.8, and 5.2. What is the geomean for July?
a. 5.2
b. 12.2
c. 38.1
d. 220
Continuing Education Training
DEP recognizes the challenges for certified operators to meet Continuing Education requirements when in-person training, classes and conferences have been cancelled or postponed. DEP encourages operators to pursue online and correspondence opportunities to meet Training Contact Hour (TCH) requirements to maintain their wastewater certification.
To help operators find training opportunities, DEP has been emailing a list of online/virtual training sessions and Webinars to certified operators every 2-3 weeks, also found on the DEP website: https://www.maine.gov/dep/water/wwoperator/. Contact the training provider for more information or to register. Participants should request a Certificate of Completion to verify attendance.
Certification Renewals
All operators with odd-numbered certificates will need to renew their certificates by March 1, 2021. Operators will receive a renewal notification in the fall, and can renew their certificate beginning October 1, 2020 either online, by mail, or by phone. Renewals include the following:
• Paying renewal fee (currently $125)
• Updating your contact information, including email, and;
• Providing documentation that you obtained required TCH.
If you would like to attend a wastewater course or Webinar that is not listed, please complete and submit the Request for Training Contact Hour (TCH) form found on the DEP website and send to certification@neiwpcc-jetcc.org.
To check the status of your recorded contact hours, go to http://jetcc.org/jetcc-docs/NEIWPCCOpsData.pdf. Please email questions to certification@neiwpcc-jetcc.org or call 207-253-8020.
Certification Exam Update
PSI testing centers that are OPEN include Portland, Farmington, Auburn, and Portsmouth, NH. Many are operating at reduced capacity. Currently closed are Bangor and Presque Isle. If you would like to take an exam at a closed location, please contact your inspector for more information.
For the most up-to-date information on testing center openings, contact PSI Customer Service at (833) 256-1420 or check the website to verify the center’s status, https://www.psionline.com/openings. (Hint: Due to PSI’s high call volume, calling customer service before 8am or after 3pm may shorten your wait time to speak to a representative).
Questions regarding exam registration should be directed to Spring Connolly at 207-253-8020. Exam applications can be found at http://jetcc.org/jetcc-docs/operator-certification-application2018.pdf.
Recently the Board of Environmental Protection approved an Administrative Consent Agreement (ACA) with a POTW for violations related to, effluent parameter violations, failing to adhere to and document standard methods, failing to retain records, failing to report violations, and operations and maintenance (O&M) failures. The violations were largely caused by the failure of the Operator in Responsible Charge (ORC) to ensure that lab work was completed and documented in accordance with the permit and the methods, and taking immediate actions to resolve operational issues. Corrective actions included conducting laboratory training, hiring a Grade 5 operator to run the plant and act as the ORC, conducting a staffing needs analysis and hiring an additional operator, submission of a current operation and maintenance plan, and a fine of $57,355.00. The POTW is conducting a supplemental environmental project (SEP) in lieu of the fine that will improve anadromous fish access to spawning grounds in a local estuary.
Laboratory compliance failures are a consistent issue in most of the recent consent agreements. The Department strongly suggests that all POTWs review their permit requirements and monitoring and lab procedures with their staff, ensure their O&M manuals are up to date, and ensure that all necessary equipment is operating correctly or has scheduled plans for replacement in order to maintain compliance with their MEPDES waste discharge license. It also recommends all ORCs check their lab technicians work and recordkeeping on a regular basis as ultimately the ORC is Responsible for facility compliance.
If you have any questions about these actions or about the Department’s compliance and enforcement policy, please contact Pam Parker at 207-485-3038 or pamela.d.parker@maine.gov.
On August 21, 2020 NetDMR was upgraded to version 6.9. For a complete list of changes associated with this upgrade please visit this website https://netdmr.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360046917392-NetDMRv6-9-Content-Release-
This article will highlight one change that might cause confusion for some users. To reduce the number of non-receipt violations NetDMR will now require all DMR fields to contain a value or a NODI code before the DMR can be signed and submitted.
While it is not a common occurrence, users would occasionally leave a field in NetDMR blank and sign and submit their DMR if a test result was not available at the DMR due date. Users would then edit the DMR once the missing test result was available and re-sign and submit the DMR. It is no longer possible to do this with the latest update to NetDMR.
We realize there will still be circumstances when a required result is not available at the DMR date, and permittees will want to sign and submit their DMRs with the data that is available at the due date.
When situations like this arise, Maine DEP recommends users enter “NODI D- Lost Sample/ Data Not Available” for the missing result. Once the missing result is available users can edit the DMR to remove the NODI code and enter the missing result.
If you have questions about the changes associated with NetDMR version 6.9, or other issues related to NetDMR, please contact Brett Goodrich at 207-287-9034 or Brett.A.Goodrich@maine.gov.
1. c
2. b
3. a
4. b
5. c
6. e
7. b
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