Wastewater pros with the LA County DPW Sewer Maintenance Division (photo by LA County DPW)

CWEA Completes Timely Update to Collection System Maintenance Certification Exam to Include WDR Changes

Minor CSM exam updates go into effect on October 1, 2023

By Norah Duffy, Director of Certification, CWEA Certifications

The TCP Executive Committee has been working with a team of subject matter experts to evaluate the impact of the new Waste Discharge Requirements Sanitary Sewer System General Order (WDR SSS) on the Collection System Maintenance exams and to update the exams to reflect the changes.

This post is to inform the wastewater community of the changes being made to the exams, and when the changes are being made.

All questions on the exams were reviewed for compliance with the new WDR SSS General Order. Two types of changes were made.

1. Terminology changes – Terminology throughout the exams was changed to reflect the language used in the new order. These changes do not change the content or difficulty level of the exam.
2. Some exam questions were revised to comply with the new WDR content. The impact of those changes is minimal. These changes do not change the overall difficulty level of the exam.

These changes will be effective for the Fall Exam Window, starting on October 1^st, 2023.

While CWEA will conduct a more extensive revision of the Collection System Maintenance exams in 2024-2025 that will incorporate the new WDR in a more comprehensive manner, the objective of this update was to ensure the current exams reflect the new regulations.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]

Thank you to the subject matter experts that have worked on this project!

CWEA relies on the expertise of our membership to support our certification program.