Wastewater operator continuing education

The Four Design Flows and What Your Permit Uses

Approved for renewal credit in Illinois

Illinois defines four design flows, and your permit uses them in its compliance calculations. This hour covers what each one means, how it ties to your plant's capacity, and the misunderstandings that cause reporting mistakes.

Course summary, as it appears on your certificate

To equip wastewater operators with a clear understanding of the four legally defined design flows per Illinois regulations, how these flows relate to their plant's hydraulic and organic loading capacities, and how their permits use these flows for compliance calculations. This course aims to correct common operator misconceptions and support confident permit interpretation and operational decision-making.

Level 1 — what it is and why — the foundations, for operators new to the subject or wanting a refresher

Credit awarded: 1 hour — Technical

The Illinois course number is issued by the Agency for this course and is printed on your certificate.

Reviewed by: Robert Risley, Class 1 Wastewater Operator — reviewed October 2026

AquaCert does not mark its own homework: a licensed operator reviews the content and the course cannot be sold while that review is out of date.

One hour of study is one hour of credit. Your certificate reports the hours, which is what Illinois records against your renewal.

---

What's included

• ✓ Self-paced online coursework you can start, pause, and resume anytime
• ✓ Short questions along the way, and a short final quiz to pass for your certificate (retake it as often as you need)
• ✓ An official certificate of completion (PDF) with a public verification code
• ✓ Progress saved to your My Learning dashboard