GA Wastewater Treatment Operator CE Point Requirements

The short version

Georgia counts CE points, not hours, and the two are not the same thing. How many points you owe depends on which certificate you hold, and the cycle is two years, ending June 30 of odd-numbered years.

What you hold	CE points due per 2-year cycle	How much must be wastewater
Class I Operator, Wastewater	24	at least 12
Class II Operator, Wastewater	18	at least 9
Industrial Wastewater Operator	18	at least 9
Laboratory Analyst, Wastewater	18	at least 9
Class III Operator, Wastewater	12	at least 6
Wastewater Collection System Operator	12	at least 6
Class IV Operator, Wastewater	6	all 6

Class I is Georgia's highest class, so unlike a lot of states, the number goes up as your class number goes down.

The rest of your points — the half that doesn't have to be wastewater — can come from any other category the Board approves courses in: Water, or Management Safety. Class IV is the exception. All six of a Class IV operator's points have to be wastewater.

If you hold more than one certificate, you do not add these numbers together. See the multi-certificate section below.

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The point math, and the online trap

This is the part that catches Georgia operators out, so it goes first.

A "point" is not automatically an hour. Board Rule 750-6-.04(7) sets the conversion by how the course was delivered:

Delivery	Points earned	Cap
Traditional classroom	1 point per contact hour	6 points per day, 12 points per event
Webinar or webcast	1 point per contact hour	6 points per day, 12 points per event
Online (self-paced, not a live webinar)	½ point per contact hour	6 points total
Correspondence	½ point per contact hour	6 points total

There are three ways an online course escapes the half-credit rule: it's actually a live webinar, the provider is IACET-accredited, or the provider demonstrated to the Board through beta testing that the course deserves more. Any of those and it earns full credit.

A worked example. You're a Class III Wastewater operator. You owe 12 points. You buy a 12-hour self-paced online course from an approved provider, finish it, and file the certificate. You have earned 6 points, and you're still six short with a June 30 deadline coming. The provider's certificate may well say "12 contact hours" — that number is honest, it's just not what the Georgia Board converts it to.

Before you buy an online course, ask the provider two things: is it a live webinar, and are you IACET-accredited? If the answer to both is no, cut the advertised hours in half in your head.

Two smaller rules in the same section: points are awarded in whole numbers only — a course that runs less than a full hour earns nothing — and no single online course can carry you past 6 points regardless of length.

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The cycle and the deadlines

Georgia certificates expire June 30 of odd-numbered years and renew every two years. Everyone is on the same clock; there's no anniversary date.

• June 30 (odd years) — renewal due, with your points already earned.
• July 1 through July 31 — the late renewal window. You can still renew with the renewal application, the renewal fee, and a penalty fee.

If you renew during that penalty window, there's a sting in the tail: the points you used to renew late cannot be used again in the next cycle. Hours earned in a scramble buy you one renewal, not two.

Your first renewal is free of CE. If you were newly certified, you're exempt from continuing education for your first renewal period. Passing the Board's certification exam covers CE for that one certificate's first renewal — it does not cover any other certificate you already hold.

If you let it lapse:

• Under two years — apply for reinstatement and complete the CE you would have owed had you stayed current. The hours don't go away.
• Over two years — apply for reinstatement and retake and pass the exam, or show a current certificate in good standing from a state the Board considers substantially similar.

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If you hold more than one certificate

Georgia is friendlier here than most states, and it's worth understanding because a lot of operators over-train.

You owe the point total for the highest class of certificate you hold — period. Not per certificate. If you hold a Class II Wastewater and a Wastewater Collection System certificate, you owe 18 points total, not 18 + 12. You still file a separate renewal application and a separate fee for each certificate, but the CE is counted once.

One condition applies if your certificates cross disciplines. If you hold both a water certificate and a wastewater certificate, you must earn at least 25% of your required points in each discipline. A Class I Water and Class I Wastewater holder owes 24 points, with a minimum of 6 water and 6 wastewater.

You can also only hold one class within a category. When the Board issues you a higher class, the lower one is void — so there's no such thing as stacking Class III and Class II wastewater certificates.

Compare this to Alabama, where a second certificate raises your total, or South Dakota, where holding multiple certificates pushes you up a sliding scale. Georgia does the opposite. Upgrading your class raises your CE burden; adding a second certificate at the same or lower class does not.

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Carryover

There isn't any. Chapter 750-6 contains no provision for banking extra points into the next cycle, and the one place it addresses reused points — the penalty window — is a prohibition, not an allowance.

Extra points you earn in a cycle are just extra. Plan to hit your number, not beat it.

Repeating a course: you cannot count the same course twice in the same renewal period. You can take it again in a later cycle and count it then.

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Reporting: CE Broker

Since January 1, 2026, every water and wastewater licensee in Georgia has had to report continuing education into CE Broker, which is the Board's official tracking system.

What that means in practice:

• The Board provides a free Basic account. You never have to pay for it. It shows your course history and your compliance status.
• You do not send proof of completion to the Board directly. You report it into CE Broker.
• You must attach the supporting documentation — the certificate itself — to each course you report. The Board is explicit: if you list a course without loading the document, you don't get credit for it.
• The Board also states that if you don't enter all your required hours, there's a high probability you'll be audited.

Load courses as you finish them, not the week of renewal.

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Records and audits

This one sits on you, not on CE Broker, and it outlasts the renewal cycle:

Proof of continuing education as required by Rule must be retained by the certificate holder for three (3) years and shall be submitted to the Board upon request. — Board Rule 750-6-.02(6)

Three years is longer than the two-year cycle, which means at any given moment you're expected to be able to produce certificates from your current cycle and part of the one before it. The Board audits CE and has said it will act on what it finds.

Practically: keep the actual certificate files somewhere you control. Uploading a copy to CE Broker satisfies the reporting requirement, but the retention obligation in the rule is written to the certificate holder, and a vendor account tied to one state board isn't a filing cabinet. If you change employers, work in a second state, or take training that never went through CE Broker, you'll want your own copies.

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Where Georgia operators earn points

Points only count if the course provider is approved by the Board (or the individual course is). The Board publishes the current list, and approvals expire January 31 of even-numbered years — so a provider who was approved when you bookmarked them may not be now. Check before you pay.

Current approved provider list: https://goals.sos.ga.gov/GASOSOneStop/s/active-providers

Places Georgia operators commonly earn points:

• Georgia Water & Wastewater Institute (GWWI) — Carrollton. The state's main classroom training facility, run as a subsidiary of GAWP. (770) 214-0153, gwwi.org
• Georgia Association of Water Professionals (GAWP) — Marietta. Conferences, schools, and specialty training. (770) 618-8690, gawp.org
• Georgia Rural Water Association (GRWA) — Barnesville. Classes around the state plus spring and fall conferences aimed at small systems. (770) 358-0221, grwa.org
• Technical colleges — Athens Technical College, Chattahoochee Technical College, and Southern Crescent Technical College's Henry County Center all appear on the Board's approved provider list.
• The Water Tower — Buford. theh2otower.org
• Larger utilities — several, including Clayton County Water Authority, Cobb County, Gwinnett County DWR, Macon Water Authority and the City of Atlanta, are approved providers in their own right and sometimes open training to outside operators.
• Online providers approved in Georgia include At Your Pace Online, CEU Plan, RoyCEU, Technical Learning College, JADE Learning and Vector Solutions — remember the half-credit rule above before you count those hours.

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Sources

Everything on this page comes from the Board's own rules and published guidance, checked August 30, 2026:

• Board Rule Chapter 750-6, Expiration, Renewal, and Continuing Education — Rules 750-6-.02 (point table, deadlines, records), 750-6-.03 (multiple certificates), 750-6-.04 (providers and point calculation). https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/750-6
• Board FAQ — the per-discipline point table, exam substitution, and reinstatement. https://sos.ga.gov/page/georgia-board-examiners-certification-water-wastewater-treatment-plant-operators-and
• Board CE Requirements page — the CE Broker mandate. https://sos.ga.gov/page/georgia-board-examiners-certification-water-wastewater-treatment-plant-operators-and-2
• Approved education providers and courses — https://goals.sos.ga.gov/GASOSOneStop/s/active-providers
• Renewals, license search, and fee schedule (GOALS portal) — https://goals.sos.ga.gov/

The Board: Georgia Board of Examiners for Certification of Water & Wastewater Treatment Plant Operators and Laboratory Analysts, Professional Licensing Boards Division, 214 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334. Contact form: https://sos.ga.gov/form/contact-georgia-board-examiners-certification-water-wastewater-treatment-plant-operators-and

CE Broker support: 1-877-434-6323, Monday–Friday 8am–8pm Eastern.

One wording note, for the operators who go read the rule themselves. The point table in 750-6-.02(3) phrases the category minimum as courses "approved for Water, Wastewater, or both," while the Board's FAQ states it by discipline — a wastewater certificate needs wastewater-approved courses. This page follows the FAQ, which is the stricter reading and the one consistent with the 25% per-discipline rule for dual holders. If your renewal turns on the difference, ask the Board.

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WaterCEU is a record-keeping tool for operators. We are not a continuing education provider, we do not award CE points, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Georgia Board of Examiners or the Georgia Secretary of State's office. This page is a plain-language summary, not compliance or legal advice — the Board's rules govern, and you should verify anything your license depends on directly with the Board.