How to Renew a Delaware Drinking Water and Distribution Operator License

Keeping your Delaware water operator certification or license active isn’t overly hard, but it’s not ultra-simple, either. If you’re a drinking water operator, you’ll renew your license through the Delaware Health and Social Services Division of Public Health, but you’ll need to do specific things first.   

To make sure you know how to renew your Delaware drinking water operator license, let’s walk through the renewal process.

Continuing education renewal requirements

Whichever type of water operator credential you have, the state’s administrative code lays out consistent continuing education (CE) requirements across the board. All water operators need 20 CE hours — which the state sometimes called education contact hours (ECHs) — to be eligible for renewal. 

There are a few things to know. 

First, you can technically take your hours anywhere and submit them for approval, but it’s generally easier to choose water operator CE (such as the training here) that’s already state-approved. That helps you save extra paperwork that the Office of Drinking Water would need in order to greenlight the course. 

If you want to see an example of the state’s approval paperwork, you can scroll down to the bottom of this page. There, you’ll see our letter from the Advisory Council for Certification of Public Water System Operators. 

Secondly, you can find Office-approved drinking water operator CE online so you can take your hours at your own pace from anywhere you want. 

Next, when you’re looking for CE, make sure at least 10 of the hours are technical in nature. The state requires you to have a minimum of 10 hours that are directly focused on waterworks operation, distribution, or treatment.

Finally, make sure you’re not repeating any courses. The state won’t count hours a second time if you take a course more than once during the specific renewal period. 

Other Delaware water operator renewal to-dos

You need to renew your Delaware water operator license every two years. If the state doesn’t get your renewal paperwork in time (more in that in a minute), they convert your license status to inactive. At that point, the clock starts ticking. You have a year from that point to get your CE done and get your renewal paperwork in. If you miss the year deadline, you’ll have to reapply for a new license. And that means going through the exam process all over again. 

Don’t wait until the last minute to get your renewal paperwork in. The state requires you to submit your renewal application at least four weeks before your expiration date. 

Fortunately, other than your CE, you just need to do two pretty simple things to renew:

1. Pay the $100 renewal fee. Make your check payable to the Division of Public Health.
2. Submit the License Renewal Application. It’s a fairly straightforward two-page document, but make sure you fill it out fully (there’s a signature line at the bottom of the last page). Also, include the certificate(s) of completion for your CE hours to show the state that you have all 20 hours completed. 

Again, mark your calendar and make sure you’re submitting your renewal documents at least a month before your drinking water operator license will expire.