1. The department of natural resources shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A requiring the certification of groundwater professionals. The rules shall include provisions for suspension or revocation of certification for good cause.
2. A groundwater professional is a person who provides subsurface soil contamination and groundwater consulting services or who contracts to perform remediation or corrective action services and is one or more of the following:
a. A person certified by the American institute of hydrology, the national water well association, the American board of industrial hygiene, or the association of groundwater scientists and engineers.
b. A professional engineer registered in Iowa.
c. A professional geologist certified by a national organization.
d. Any person who has five years of direct and related experience and training as a groundwater professional or in the field of earth sciences.
e. Any other person with a license, certification, or registration to practice hydrogeology or groundwater hydrology issued by any state in the United States or by any national organization, provided that the license, certification, or registration process requires, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) Possession of a bachelor's degree from an accredited college.
(2) Five years of related professional experience.
3. The department of natural resources may provide for a civil penalty of no more than fifty dollars for failure to obtain certification. An interested person may obtain a list of certified groundwater professionals from the department of natural resources. The department of natural resources may impose a fee for the certification of persons under this section.
4. The certification of groundwater professionals shall not impose liability on the board, the department, or the fund for any claim or cause of action of any nature, based on the action or inaction of groundwater professionals certified pursuant to this section.
5. Any person who was not previously registered as a groundwater professional who requests certification under this section, after January 1, 1996, shall be required to attend a course of instruction and pass a certification examination. The administrator of the fund shall hold certification courses and offer examinations. An applicant who successfully passes the examination shall be certified as a groundwater professional.
6. A groundwater professional who was registered prior to January 1, 1996, shall not be required to attend the course of instruction but shall be required to pass the certification examination by January 1, 1997.
7. All groundwater professionals shall be required to complete continuing education requirements as adopted by rule by the department.
8. The board may provide for exemption from the certification requirements of this section for a professional engineer registered pursuant to chapter 542B, if the person is qualified in the field of geotechnical, hydrological, environmental groundwater, or hydrogeological engineering.
9. Notwithstanding the certification requirements of this section, a site cleanup report or corrective action design report submitted by a registered groundwater professional shall be accepted by the department in accordance with section 455B.474, subsection 1, paragraph "d", subparagraph (2), subparagraph subdivision (e), and paragraph "f", subparagraph (5).
91 Acts, ch 252, §40; 93 Acts, ch 155, §10; 95 Acts, ch 215, §27; 97 Acts, ch 31, §1
Referred to in § 455B.474, 455H.105
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