Median Pay by Area
- Hagerstown-Martinsburg (MD-WV)
- $51,700 a year
- Parkersburg-Vienna
- $51,210 a year
- Beckley
- $48,340 a year
- Charleston
- $46,570 a year
- Morgantown
- $46,490 a year
West Virginia wastewater operators
The steps from no certificate to a West Virginia Class I wastewater operator certificate, starting as an Operator in Training, how to take the exam, how to keep your certificate active and what operators earn. Every requirement links to the Certification and Training (C&T) Program of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (BPH), part of the Department of Health, or its rule, 64CSR5 Wastewater Systems and Operators.
BPH makes the final eligibility determination. Check with BPH before you apply.
Why it matters
West Virginia's rule says anyone who operates a Class S, Class C or Class I to IV wastewater system must be certified by the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health. A Class H system needs an operator certified by the Commissioner or by the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The rule does not cover industrial wastewater systems, which DEP regulates, or septic tanks serving individual homes unless they have a centralized component.
To operate means doing the practical work and applying the technical knowledge and skills used to treat and collect wastewater. Carry your certification card whenever you are operating.
Certificates are handled by the Certification and Training (C&T) Program in BPH's Office of Environmental Health Services.
Treatment systems are Class I to IV, mostly by permitted flow: Class I over 0.05 up to 1.0 million gallons per day (MGD), Class II over 1.0 up to 1.75 MGD, Class III over 1.75 and under 6.0 MGD, and Class IV 6.0 MGD or more. Class IV is the highest.
Three other classes stand on their own: Class H for small systems under 600 gallons per day, Class S for small systems over 600 gallons per day up to 0.05 MGD, and Class C for collection systems. Class HR is a restricted Class H for a homeowner operating their own system. An Advanced designation is added for systems using advanced treatment such as nitrification, phosphorus removal or membrane filtration.
Class H, S and C do not count toward Class I. Anyone working in a Class I to IV system starts as an Operator in Training (OIT), and Class I to IV must be earned in order.
Step 1
To become an OIT, you need to be at least 18 and have a high school diploma or GED. There is no OIT fee.
Your Chief Operator applies for your OIT certificate on Form ES-53 within 30 days of your hire and signs the form. Experience counts toward Class I only from the date your OIT certificate is issued.
On written request, BPH can let you start at 16 if you have finished 10th grade with at least a 2.0 GPA and stay in school, or waive the diploma if you are enrolled in an adult education program working toward a GED. You must show proof each semester.
OIT certificates are renewed every two years with 6 continuing education hours (CEHs), and you must try the Class I exam at least once in each two-year period.
Step 2
Complete the Commissioner-approved certification course for your class before you take the exam. Class III and IV need 90 and 180 continuing education units (CEUs) of education instead of a single course.
For certification courses, the training provider gives the exam on the last day of the course and sends C&T a Form EW-102 for each student.
For study guides and training materials, C&T refers operators to the WV Environmental Training Center (304-372-7878) and the WV Rural Water Association (304-201-1689).
Step 3
If you are not testing at the end of a course, send Form EW-102 to C&T. The form says C&T must receive it at least 30 days before the exam date. C&T sends a confirmation letter and does not accept walk-ins.
C&T gives exams on set dates that rotate among district areas across the state, about once a month in 2026. Check the current schedule before you apply.
If you do not get a confirmation letter within 2 to 3 weeks, call C&T at 304-352-5040.
Step 4
After you pass, apply on Form ES-53. Attach your driver's license or birth certificate, diploma or GED, course certificates and, for Class I and up, a letter from your Chief Operator documenting your hours.
The rule sets the certificate fees: Class H, S and C $100, Class I $125, Class II $150, Class III $175 and Class IV $200. OIT, Class HR and the Advanced designation have no fee.
Send your paperwork first. You can pay by check or money order to WV BPH, or by credit card online after C&T approves your paperwork and emails payment instructions. Payments sent before your paperwork is reviewed are refunded.
C&T processes applications in the order received. If you hear nothing within 2 to 3 weeks, call 304-352-5040.
Step 5
Certificates expire two years from the date they are issued. Send Form EW-212 30 to 60 days before expiration. You cannot operate with an expired certificate.
Each two-year renewal needs CEHs: Class S 3, Class C and OIT 6, Class I and II 12, and Class III and IV 24. Class H, Class HR and the Advanced designation need none.
Only Commissioner-approved CEH courses count. Ask the provider for the West Virginia CEH number before you enroll. A course approved for both water and wastewater can count toward both certifications.
You cannot repeat a course in consecutive renewal periods or carry extra CEHs forward. Attach copies of your course certificates showing your name, the CEH number, course title, provider, hours and date.
The renewal fee is the same as the certificate fee, and a late renewal adds $25. If you hold several wastewater certificates, you pay only the renewal fee for the highest one.
If your certificate has been expired for more than a year, you must pass the exam at that class again to be reinstated. Reinstatement requests use Form EW-126.
Exam day
BPH's C&T Program gives the Class H, S, C and Class I to IV wastewater exams itself, on its own exam dates or on the last day of an approved certification course.
Arrive by 8:45 a.m.; exams start promptly at 9:00 a.m. with a 4-hour time limit. Bring a photo ID and your confirmation letter.
Pencils and calculators are provided. Phones, watches, recording devices, laptops, bags, purses and hats are not allowed in the exam room.
You need 70% or better to pass. If you fail, wait at least 60 days from the exam before reapplying. Exam results are valid for five years; if you have not met the education and experience requirements by then, you must apply to test again.
BPH's C&T Program gives West Virginia's exams itself, and the pages we could read do not say who writes them, how many questions they have or whether a formula sheet is handed out. Operator Master's free practice questions, timed practice exam and math help are built on the WPI exam format and the WPI formula table, so use them for general wastewater knowledge and math, and use your approved certification course for West Virginia's exam content. Operator Master is an independent study tool, not the official exam.
Pay
The median pay for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in West Virginia was $47,560 a year ($22.87 an hour) in 2025, compared with $60,020 nationally. One in ten earned $35,360 or less, and one in ten earned $75,240 or more.
These federal figures cover drinking water and wastewater operators together, at every class. Pay for a new operator is usually nearer the low end.
Moving up
Every class needs a high school diploma or GED and a score of 70% or better on its exam; Class H, S and C need the approved course and exam but no experience. Only experience as a certified operator counts, and it should be mostly hands-on: work only in collection or maintenance counts for no more than 600 hours, and laboratory-only work for no more than 1,000. On written request, Class II to IV applicants can replace up to half the experience with extra education, and Class III and IV applicants up to half the CEUs with extra experience. One CEU is 10 CEHs; a college semester credit hour is 1.5 CEUs, a quarter credit hour is 1 CEU and 2,000 hours of experience is 45 CEUs.
From another state
BPH grants West Virginia certification to an operator certified elsewhere who is seeking or has a West Virginia job that needs a certified operator, meets West Virginia's education and experience requirements, and passed an exam BPH finds substantially equivalent to the level sought.
Apply on Form EW-108 with a copy of your current certificate and the rule of the state that issued it. If you held West Virginia certification before, request reinstatement on Form EW-126 instead.
If the other exam is substantially equivalent, BPH issues a Reciprocal Operator License at the matching West Virginia level and may require a West Virginia course within 24 months. If it is not, you must pass the West Virginia exam at that level.