Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Occupational/Tech Studies

Committee Director

Philip A. Reed

Committee Member

James E. Bartlett

Committee Member

Ginger S. Watson

Abstract

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is a foundational component of public health and environmental protection. The United States drinking water sector is highly regulated and increasingly challenged by workforce shortages, aging infrastructure, and variability in operator training requirements across states. Despite the federal mandate for operator certification under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of certification policies in improving regulatory compliance outcomes remains limited.

This study examined the relationship between operator certification policies and drinking water compliance outcomes under the Safe Drinking Water Act, with particular attention to differences across violation types and socioeconomic contexts. Grounded in professional licensure theory, human capital theory, and adult learning theory, the study evaluated whether prescribed education and continuing education and training (CET) requirements function as mechanisms for improving system performance. Using data from the Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) and the American Community Survey (ACS), a mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional design was employed.

Results indicate that increases in violation rates following the implementation of the Operator Certification Rule were primarily attributable to expanded monitoring and reporting rather than declines in underlying water quality. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that administrative violations were driven primarily by system characteristics and socioeconomic iv conditions, with no consistent independent association observed for education requirements after adjustment. In contrast, education requirements demonstrated a statistically significant but model-sensitive relationship with health-based violations, with stronger effects observed in higher-poverty contexts. CET requirements did not demonstrate a consistent main effect but exhibited a significant interaction with poverty, indicating that CET does not have a consistent effect on system performance and is context dependent.

These findings suggest that workforce policy influences compliance outcomes in targeted and conditional ways rather than as a universal driver of performance. The results refine theoretical assumptions regarding human capital and professional licensure by demonstrating that the effects of education and training vary across compliance domains and are embedded within broader structural and regulatory conditions.

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.25777/wevg-6y57

ISBN

9798197810458

ORCID

0009-0002-4916-9053

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