What is a Training Provider?
Operators are required to take “Director Approved” continuing education to meet the requirements for renewing drinking water certificates. A training provider is an organization or educator that delivers Director Approved courses in the area of drinking water operations.
Training providers wishing to get courses approved by the Director must submit an online application for review.
If you would like to have your course reviewed or reassessed to ensure it meets the criteria for Director approval, please see the Getting Your Course Approved section for more information.
Wastewater courses cannot be considered for Director approval; however, they can be reviewed to determine the course length.
For the purposes of calculating education or training obtained through continuing education, one CEU equals ten hours of training.
If you would like to have your course reviewed to see if it meets the requirements for Director Approval, or to have it assessed for CEU value, there are certain criteria and steps to follow. Please see the Getting Your Course Approved section for more information.
About the Director Approval process: Neither the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) nor OWWCO endorses any training course or organization. Courses are not reviewed for the quality of instruction or the accuracy of the content. The views or opinions provided in the training are those of the training providers and not those of the Ministry.
Getting your Course(s) Approved for the First Time
Once you have gained access to WWOCS, you are able to submit your courses for approval/review online. Only courses that are on subject matters directly related to the duties typically performed by drinking water operators will be reviewed for Director approval. Courses which deal solely with wastewater or stormwater topics do not meet the criteria for Director approval, however, these courses can be submitted to be reviewed by OWWCO to determine their CEU value.
Please review the Director Approved Continuing Education Guide for Training Providers to learn more about the criteria for Director approved continuing education, or contact the OWWCO office for more information.
Director approval of a course is valid for three years. All courses must be reassessed for approval every three years. Please refer to the Getting your course approval renewed section below for more information.
How to Apply
See below for steps to apply for Director approval of drinking water courses, or to have wastewater courses reviewed for their CEU values.
- Director Approval for Drinking Water Courses
- Wastewater Course Review
| Background | Drinking water operators are required to meet certain training requirements every three years in order to renew their certificate. The amount of Director Approved training required ranges from 21 to 42 CEUs, depending on the certificate type and level the operator holds.
Courses which are submitted for Director Approval must meet certain training criteria, and cover topics on subject matter that isdirectly related to the operational duties of drinking water operators and water quality analysts. The subject matter areas, as well as some examples of the types of topics which can be considered for Director Approval, are included in the chart below:
Director Approved courses must be structured events with documented learning objectives and a means to verify the participant has learned the course material. In addition, the course must be planned and provided by a qualified training provider, include a course evaluation form, and a course completion certificate which is given to participants after successful course completion. For full details of all the requirements, please see Guideline 4.4. |
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| How to Apply | 1. Request the creation of a WWOCS account (if your company has not already done so) by submitting the Training Provider User Access Request for Water Wastewater Operator Certification System;
2. Submit your completed online application through WWOCS. 3. Ensure that you submit the required supporting documentation to operator.certification.moe@ontario.ca (see Guideline 4.4 for list of requirements for Director Approval); 4. Ensure that payment for your course is received by the OWWCO office in order for your course to be reviewed. |
| Background | As wastewater courses do not meet the requirements for Director Approval, these types of courses cannot be used to meet requirements for drinking water renewals. These courses are however, still valuable for operators as they can be used to meet the training requirement for wastewater renewals, or for upgrades.
Wastewater courses can be submitted for assessment of CEU value and therefore be made available in WWOCS to upload into an operator’s WWOCS profile. Once assessed for CEU value, you are able to upload their record of completion to the operator’s WWOCS profile for them to see and retain for their records. |
| How to Apply | 1. Request the creation of a WWOCS account (if your company has not already done so) by submitting the Training Provider User Access Request for Water Wastewater Operator Certification System;
2. Submit your completed online application through WWOCS. 3. Ensure that you submit the required supporting documentation to operator.certification.moe@ontario.ca (see Guideline 4.4 for list of requirements for review); 4. Ensure that payment for your course is received by the OWWCO office in order for your course to be reviewed. |
A separate online application must be submitted through WWOCS for each course you wish to have reviewed.
You may submit all supporting documentation to:
Ontario Water Wastewater Certification Office
295 The West Mall, Suite 302
Etobicoke, ON M9C 4Z4
Fax: (416) 231-2107
Forms, Fees, and Guidance
A separate online application must be submitted through WWOCS for each course you wish to have reviewed. Course applications may take up to 30 days to process on receipt of a complete application. Incomplete applications may be returned.
You may submit all supporting documentation to:
Ontario Water Wastewater Certification Office
295 The West Mall, Suite 302
Etobicoke, ON M9C 4Z4
Fax: (416) 231-2107
Or by email to: info@owwco.ca
The fee for review of a course is $175 per course.
Payment will be required from the training provider in order for the course to be reviewed and can be made by Visa, Mastercard, cheque, or money order.
| FORMS AND GUIDANCE | DESCRIPTION |
| Director Approved Continuing Education Reassessment and Instructor Assessment Application | Complete this form to request the reassessment and re-approval of Director approved continuing education training or to add/remove an instructor from a course |
| WWOCS Functions for Training Providers | Includes a complete view of the different steps to input, submit, and upload courses through WWOCS. |
| Training Provider User Access Request Form for WWOCS | Complete this form in order to gain access to WWOCS. |
| WWOCS Web Site Login | This link will take you to the login page for WWOCS. |
| WWOCS Operator’s ID | The listing of Operator ID numbers for operators holding valid certification. |
| Guideline 4.4 – Director Approved Continuing Education Guide for Training Providers | This guideline details the types of training which can be considered for Director Approval, as well as any limitations in place for this type of training. |
| Sample Certificate | A sample certificate to give operators upon successful completion. |
| Guide to Drinking Water Operator Training Requirements | Read this guide for the requirements to submit a course for review. |
Distance Learning
For further information on transitioning your course(s) to a remote format, please review the Distanced Learning FAQs.
Getting your course approval renewed
Director approval of a course is valid for three years. All courses must be reassessed for approval through an application process. Training providers are required to submit a reassessment application before the course renewal date.
If a course has changed substantially, you will need to resubmit course materials for reassessment (see Director Approved Continuing Education Guide for Training Providers for more information).
Training providers are responsible for monitoring their course renewal dates and submitting their reassessment applications on time. Courtesy renewal notifications are sent to training providers approximately 120 days from the course renewal date.
If a course is not reapproved prior to the renewal date, the course is not Director approved and is referred to as an expired course. Training providers cannot advertise expired courses as Director approved and cannot issue course completion certificates containing the MECP Course ID, Director approved CEUs, or any mention of Director approval.
How to Apply
- Complete and submit, by fax or mail, form 2160E – Director Approved Continuing Education Reassessment and Instructor Assessment (payment information is included on the form)
- Submit the required supporting materials by email to operator.certification@
ontario.ca as individual files in the following categories:
Forms, Fees and Guidance
The fee to renew a course approval is $125. Payment information must be provided on the application form.
| Forms and Guidance | Description |
| Director Approved Continuing Education Reassessment and Instructor Assessment Application | Complete this form to request the reassessment or renewal of Director approved continuing education training or to add/remove an instructor from a course |
| Director Approved Continuing Education Guide for Training Providers | This guideline details the types of training which can be considered for Director approval, as well as MECP policies and requirements for Director approved courses. |
Administrative Requirements
A course is only considered Director Approved after the training provider has received confirmation from the Director and paid the associated fee. In addition, training providers shall not state or imply that the ministry endorses or approves the content of a course which has been approved.
Uploading participant completion into the Water/Wastewater Operator Certification System (WWOCS) is a requirement of continual approval. Course providers who do not upload results in a timely manner may have their approved courses removed from the course listing. See WWOCS Functions for Training Providers for more details.
Course providers must maintain a policy regarding successful course completion which includes criteria for testing a participant’s mastery of the material and attendance requirements.
Troubleshooting
Issues which can arise when using WWOCS are often easily solved with one of the following tips. Please read below for common errors, and make sure you are using Internet Explorer to access WWOCS (Chrome, Firefox etc. may have higher number of errors).
WWOCS ACCOUNT ISSUES:
- Remember, your WWOCS training provider account is for the entire company, not just the individual submitting or delivering a course. Make sure that there is one person in charge of the account.
- When logging in for the first time, make sure you enter in your password as it appears. Sometimes, the lowercase letter L looks like the number 1.
CERTIFICATES:
All certificates given to participants after course completion must contain the following:
- Training provider’s name;
- Participant’s name;
- Training event title or description;
- Start and completion date of training course;
- Number of contact hours or ‘Director Approved’ CEUs;
- Signature of training provider or authorized representative;
- ‘Director Approved’ wording to indicate that the course is ministry approved (i.e. ‘Director Approved Continuing Education Units 0.7) and
- Course ID
UPLOADING:
When uploading the list of operators who have successfully completed your training to WWOCS, the following tips may help solve any issues you may have:
- Internet Explorer works best with WWOCS. Chrome, Firefox, etc. are all less compatible;
- Make sure the information is saved in Notepad as a .txt Do not use Word or Excel;
- Use the Course ID found on your receipt, not the reference number;
- Only Operators who hold valid certificates or licences are on the Operator Listing report. Expired operators do not appear;
- Watch out for duplicate or incorrect operator IDs in the file;
- Try uploading in smaller batches. Errors occur more frequently with courses that have over 50 operators;
- Watch out for spaces in the text file, and
- Use only a semi-colon (;) to separate the required data.