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Growing Program and Process Efficiencies:

Growing Program and Process Efficiencies:. Third-Party Certifications. John M. Robertson, Executive Officer, Central Coast RWQCB. October 25, 2016. Third-Party Certifications: What Are They?. Third-Party certification programs Sustainability certifications typically have three pillars

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Growing Program and Process Efficiencies:

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  1. Growing Program and Process Efficiencies: Third-Party Certifications John M. Robertson, Executive Officer, Central Coast RWQCB October 25, 2016

  2. Third-Party Certifications: What Are They? • Third-Party certification programs • Sustainability certifications typically have three pillars • Criteria score implemented water quality risk management strategies and practices • Lower risk = higher score • Threshold score necessary to achieve/receive certification • Familiar Examples of Third-Party Certifications • Types: Sustainable, Biodynamic, Organic, etc. • Examples of existing certifications: • Vineyards (i.e., Sustainability In Practice, California Sustainable Winegrowers Alliance, Lodi Rules Sustainable Winegrowers), • Timber (i.e., Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Tree Farm System, Forest Stewardship Council) • Other Certifications under consideration or development: Wineries, strawberries, avocados, cannabis, etc.

  3. Why are Certifications Important to Water Boards? (Part 1) • In under-resourced programs (i.e., Irrigated Lands), with high enrollee-to-staff ratios, adequately protective third-party certifications can: • Identify lower water quality risk enrollees • Focus staff resources on less protective or higher risk practices/strategies/enrollees • Provide more efficient use of program resources

  4. Why are Certifications Important to Water Boards? (Part 2) • Regions/State Board can create regulatory and economic incentives benefitting enrollees with third-party certifications: • Examples of incentives include: • One-stop permit shopping (i.e., winery + vineyard + stormwater in one enrollment) • Reduced compliance, reporting, and/or monitoring costs • Both of these examples create cost savings to water boards as well as enrollees • These time and financial incentives can induce/increase water quality-protective actions

  5. Disclaimers and Limitations • Not all third-party certifications are created equal: • “Sustainable” is a variable definition • Certifications have different water quality scoring strategies and criteria • This could result in different water quality protective “values” with different certifications • Insufficient WQ monitoring associated with certifications • No third-party sustainable certifications will be completely bulletproof • There will likely be water quality non-compliance issues at certified facilities • “Perfection is unattainable”

  6. Our Role and Loose Ends • Going forward, our role includes: • Working with third parties in development and tuning certification water quality components • Goal: Improve certification’s protectiveness and value • Finding efficiencies and opportunities • Utilizing/engaging third-party certification efforts will significantly aid our program efficiencies • Engage in opportunities to continuously improve certifications

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