Requirements by state
Arkansas water operator certification
Quick answer
How do I get certified as a water operator in Arkansas?
Arkansas splits water operator licensing across two agencies: the Department of Health licenses drinking water Treatment and Distribution operators, Class D (entry) through Class A (highest), using ABC Need-to-Know exam criteria, application $35 per license or $70 for both, exam $25, renewal $10 every two years. The Department of Environmental Quality separately licenses wastewater Municipal Class I-IV and Industrial operators.
See how Arkansas compares to every other jurisdiction in the national comparison matrix, or check reciprocity between states if you are moving.
Certifying agency: Arkansas Department of Health (drinking water) and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (wastewater)
- Two separate agencies: Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) licenses drinking water operators, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) licenses wastewater operators
- Drinking water: Class D (entry) through Class A (highest), using exam criteria published by the Association of Boards of Certification (ABC)
- Wastewater: Municipal license by Class (I through IV) plus a separate Industrial license track, administered through DEQ's SEEK online system
- Drinking water renewal is every two years at $10 per license; re-examination costs $25
Water treatment
- D: Class D
- C: Class C
- B: Class B
- A: Class A
- Exam
- State-administered exam built on the Association of Boards of Certification (ABC) Need-to-Know Criteria and ABC formula sheet, given as paper-based or computer-based
- Application / certification fee
- $35 for one license (Treatment or Distribution) or $70 for both licenses on the same application
- Exam fee
- $25 examination/re-examination fee
- Continuing education
- Mandatory training and continuing-education hours are required before sitting the exam and again for renewal; ADH tracks renewal hours per operator, but the exact hour count per class is not published on ADH's public overview page
- Renewal cycle
- 2 years
- Reciprocity
- Arkansas participates in operator license reciprocity for drinking water operators moving between states, coordinated through the Operator Certification Program; contact ADH directly for the current reciprocity application and fee, which are not itemized on ADH's public fee pages
ADH licenses drinking water Treatment and Distribution together as one "water operator" license track, Class D (entry) through Class A (highest, large or complex systems); a seven-person Drinking Water Advisory & Operator Licensing Committee, including four Class A operators, oversees the program.
Water distribution
- D: Class D
- C: Class C
- B: Class B
- A: Class A
- Exam
- State-administered exam built on the Association of Boards of Certification (ABC) Need-to-Know Criteria and ABC formula sheet, given as paper-based or computer-based
- Application / certification fee
- $35 for one license (Treatment or Distribution) or $70 for both licenses on the same application
- Exam fee
- $25 examination/re-examination fee
- Renewal cycle
- 2 years
- Reciprocity
- Arkansas participates in operator license reciprocity for drinking water operators moving between states, coordinated through the Operator Certification Program; contact ADH directly for the current reciprocity application and fee
Distribution is licensed by ADH as its own track alongside treatment, on the same Class D to A ladder; the two use separate ABC Need-to-Know Criteria documents (the 2017 NTK versions ADH links for Treatment and Distribution are different documents).
Wastewater treatment
- I: Municipal Class I
- II: Municipal Class II
- III: Municipal Class III
- IV: Municipal Class IV
- Exam
- State-administered exam through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), managed through DEQ's SEEK online licensing system; approved training is required from DEQ-approved providers before sitting the exam
- Reciprocity
- DEQ's wastewater operator licensing regulation (APC&EC Rule 3 / 8 CAR 22-101) governs licensing for Arkansas operators; DEQ's public program page does not itemize a reciprocity fee, so operators moving from another state should contact DEQ's Enforcement Branch directly
DEQ licenses wastewater separately from ADH's drinking water program, under Arkansas Code Annotated Section 8-5-201 et seq. and APC&EC Rule 3. Operators may hold both a Municipal license (Class I through IV, Municipal Class IV applications need 30 days' advance notice versus 5 business days for other classes) and a separate Industrial license, and must pay a renewal fee for each license type held even when training hours are shared between them. Exact examination and renewal dollar amounts are not published in plain text on DEQ's program page and were not independently confirmed for this page; contact DEQ before applying.
Wastewater collection
Arkansas does not license this discipline as a distinct state credential.
Arkansas is the one state on this page where you deal with two entirely separate state agencies depending on which side of the pipe you work: the Department of Health (ADH) for drinking water, and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for wastewater. They do not share a fee schedule, an exam, or an online system, so treat this as two different certification paths that happen to be in the same state.
Drinking water: ADH, Class D to A
ADH licenses drinking water Treatment and Distribution operators (which it also calls a single “water operator license”) on a four-step ladder running Class D (entry) up through Class A (highest, the largest or most complex systems). The Water Operator Certification Program has been mandatory since 1957, and a seven-person Drinking Water Advisory & Operator Licensing Committee, which by law includes four Class A operators, oversees it.
The exam itself is state-administered but built directly on the ABC (Association of Boards of Certification) Need-to-Know Criteria and ABC formula sheet, the same reference materials many ABC-exam states use, even though Arkansas runs its own exam rather than the ABC standardized test.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Application, one license (Treatment or Distribution) | $35 |
| Application, both licenses | $70 |
| Examination or re-examination | $25 |
| Renewal, per license, every 2 years | $10 |
Renewal runs on a two-year cycle, shorter than most states on this site, and mandatory training must be completed and documented before you can sit the exam.
Wastewater: DEQ, Municipal Class I to IV plus Industrial
Wastewater operators are licensed separately through DEQ’s Enforcement Branch, under Arkansas Code Annotated Section 8-5-201 et seq. and APC&EC Rule 3. DEQ runs two license tracks: a Municipal license, classed I through IV, and a separate Industrial license. An operator can hold both, and if so must pay a renewal fee for each license type, even though training hours can be shared between them. Municipal Class IV exam applications need 30 days’ notice before the exam date; every other class needs 5 business days.
DEQ’s public program page does not publish a plain-text dollar fee schedule the way ADH does, so this page does not state specific wastewater exam or renewal fees; confirm current amounts directly with DEQ before applying. DEQ also does not describe a distinctly named wastewater collection system license on its public program page, so that discipline is marked not licensed as its own credential on this page, an honest gap rather than an assumed one.
Where to go from here
Use the operator-math trainer to practice the ABC-aligned plant math the Arkansas exam draws on, and the process calculator for the same formulas on shift. See how to become a water or wastewater operator for the general path, and reciprocity between states for how moving certifications generally works.
Sources: Arkansas Department of Health, Drinking Water Operator Certification program page (healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/drinking-water-operator-certification, retrieved 2026-07-29); Obtaining a License guide, confirming the ABC Need-to-Know Criteria and the $25 re-exam fee (healthy.arkansas.gov/programs-services/topics/obtaining-a-license, retrieved 2026-07-29); Arkansas Water Operator Licensing Program fee notice, dated 30 Mar 2023, confirming the $35/$70 application fee (healthy.arkansas.gov, PDF, retrieved 2026-07-29); O*NET OnLine, Arkansas license detail for Water Treatment Operator, confirming the $10 two-year renewal fee (onetonline.org, retrieved 2026-07-29); Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, Wastewater Operator Licensing program page, citing Arkansas Code Annotated Section 8-5-201 et seq. and APC&EC Rule 3 (adeq.state.ar.us/water/wwl, retrieved 2026-07-29). Authored by the Water Cert Prep editorial team. Not legal advice. Reviewed 2026-07-29.