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NIMS Training

How to Receive Credit for a NIMS Course:

PA DEP has received permission from FEMA to sponsor the following online independent study NIMS courses to be used toward both drinking water and wastewater certifications. Click on each course title to link to the course on FEMA's site:

Please be aware the IS program now requires a FEMA Student Identification Number (SID) instead of your SSN. If you do not have a SID, please make sure to do so before taking any of the courses.

Important Note: The FEMA NIMS course certificates never expire. If you retake a course to refresh your skills, you may retake the exam however, the system will not re-score the exam and the original date of completion will always appear on your certificate for the course and the date cannot be changed. The exception is if the course has been updated and published with a more recent course date. To verify you are eligible to take the course again, check the date on your previous completion and if the course is now published with a more recent date you may take it again.

Normally, approved training sponsors are required to report course completions to DEP. Although DEP is now a sponsor for these particular NIMS courses, we cannot logistically receive course completion information from FEMA. Therefore, we have implemented a special reporting process for these NIMS courses only.

When you successfully complete one of the above NIMS courses, you will receive a completion email and a link to download the certificate from FEMA. To receive continuing education credit toward your water or wastewater license, you must report your completion by doing the following:

  • Download the FEMA certificate and email it to DEP at DEPWSTechTrain@pa.gov.
  • Important: Be sure to type your PA DEP Client ID number in the email subject line.

Please remember that this is not our normal procedure for documenting course completions. This is an exception only for the NIMS courses. If you have any questions about this procedure, contact DEP at 717-787-9633.