education and licensing

looking for training? 

MWWA's educational offerings address multiple needs for the drinking water profession:

• Introductory training for newcomers
• Required ("prerequisite") courses that must be successfully completed to sit for the higher grade level exams
• Exam prep courses to help operators review or refresh before sitting for an exam
• Continuing education designed to help drinking water professionals achieve a high level of professional expertise

Click here to view the 2026 MWWA calendar and class schedule. (Additional training is added frequently.)

For questions or suggestions on any of MWWA's Education Programs, please contact MWWA's Training Coordinator, Daniel Laprade.

MWWA education policies:

To view MWWA"s Student Expectations for Attending Remote Training, please click here.

For a complete list of MWWA's course policies, please click here.

information on becoming an operator and obtaining a massachusetts drinking water license:

Looking to become a Drinking Water Operator? 

Review our information sheet on understanding the pathway to becoming an operator here.  

Exam Prerequisite Training:

MWWA offers the Basic Treatment, Advanced Treatment and Distribution prerequisite courses required to sit for the Grade 2 or higher exams.  The courses are offered in the spring and fall, and locations vary.  We advertise these courses on our homepage.  To view the complete list of Board of Certification approved prerequisite courses, click here.  

MA Board of Licensure:

www.mass.gov/dpl/boards/dw — We suggest that you navigate around this website for the board's policies, regulations, exam calendar and other important information. This is the website of the MA board that licenses all water system operators.

Board of Certification of Operators of Drinking Water Supply Facilities Policy for Training Requirements to Sit for Exams

Helpful Hints When Applying for a Water Operator License

Watch this presentation by Blake Lukis, MWWA's representative to the Board of Certification, to get an overview of what the Board expects a complete application to contain: 

• Application Checklist and Required Forms: 

  www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-a-drinking-water-supply-facility-operators-license
• Operator of Drinking Water Supply Facilities Forms: www.mass.gov/lists/operators-of-drinking-water-supply-facilities-forms
• Education and Experience Requirements Worksheet: https://www.mass.gov/doc/education-and-experience-requirements-worksheet-0/download
• Experience Record: https://www.mass.gov/doc/dw-board-application-experience-form/download
• Sample license applications. Click here

Registering for a Drinking Water Exam

The drinking water operator licensing exams are administered by a third party company “PSI” which provides exam services for a wide range of certification programs in Massachusetts (e.g. wastewater, real estate, optometry etc,).  To register for a drinking water license exam go to:  https://test-takers.psiexams.com/abc-ma/test

If you are registering for an exam for the first time you will need to set up an account with a username and password.  The exam fee is currently $106.00, which can be paid for using a credit card.  Military veterans can have the fee waived by providing the necessary documentation.

What’s on the Drinking Water Exams?

Massachusetts uses the same ‘standardized’ exams that are used by 35 other states.  Each exam is developed by Water Professional International (WPI) which was formerly known as the Associated Boards of Certification (ABC).  WPI has an extensive exam validation process and routinely reviews questions to update the question banks.  WPI also provides the Formula and Conversion sheets that examinees will be provided with at the test taking centers.

A copy of the most recent (2024) Formula and Conversion document can be found here:  https://www.gowpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/WPI-FCT-2024-WT.pdf

WPI also provides a detailed overview of the topics covered on each level of the exam.  These “Need to Know Criteria” documents can be found here:  https://www.gowpi.org/services/abc-testing/need-to-know-criteria/

Exam Passing Rates

Review the MassDEP Certified Operator Reports: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/public-water-system-capacity-development#operator-certification-reports

operator quiz corner answers have moved!

MWWA publishes a member newsletter (H2O Pump) five times a year. One of the standard articles is a quiz corner with questions similar to what operators could encounter on a license exam.  The answers for the quiz corner have moved to the Member Center area of the MWWA website, under the Newsletters submenu.  MWWA Members can also access the quiz corner answers using this link.