Certification program description

CLCA offers two levels of certification:

• Full Certification: CLCA Water Manager. Pass the written test and manage at least one property for one year and continue to manage a property at or below the landscape water budget established by the CLCA Water Management Performance Program. In addition, the water use may not exceed 100 percent of reference evapotranspiration (ETo). However, if a local jurisdiction defines "on budget" or other landscape water consumption requirements that are more demanding than 100 percent of ETo, the program will require the local standard. In addition, new landscape sites must achieve 80 percent of ETo to qualify.
• Expert Certification: CLCA Expert Water Manager. Pass the written test and manage five properties for one year and continue to manage five properties at or below the water budget established by the CLCA Water Management Performance Program. In addition, the water use may not exceed 80 percent of ETo. However, if a local jurisdiction defines "on budget" or other landscape water consumption requirements that are more demanding than 80 percent of ETo, the program will require the local standard.

Certification is open to anyone in the landscape industry. Once you pass the written test, you become provisionally certified until completing the one-year performance requirement for full certification. If you become a Provisionally Certified Water Manager and do not enroll a property in the Water Management Performance Program within six months of passing the written test, you lose your status as a Provisionally Certified Water Manager. You must retake the written test to once again become a Provisionally Certified Water Manager.

Upon achieving full certification, you will receive a certificate, a listing on CLCA's website under Certified Water Managers: Individuals, and five truck decals for every landscape project you have enrolled in the Performance Program. Your employer will receive a listing under Firms Employing Certified Water Managers. (The CLCA program certifies individuals, not companies or employers.) Water districts throughout California are expected to provide links to these website listings.

Expert Certified Water Managers and the firms employing them will be recognized as such on the CLCA website.

How to obtain certification

1. Register for the Performance Program by contacting John Moore by email, or by phone at (775) 225-7346. Click here for more information on the Performance Program.
2. Download the study guide for the written test. (To print the study guide, set page scaling to "Fit to Printer margins" when you print the document.)
3. Click here for more information on the Written Test.
4. Test dates, times and locations are provided here and on the application form for the written test. Watch for new test dates. They will be announced as they become available.

Important: You don't need to wait for the next test date to begin the one-year Performance Program cycle. You can get started on the performance requirement TODAY!

How to maintain certification

Provisionally Certified Water Managers must have a site enrolled in the Water Management Performance Program and be submitting monthly water meter readings as required.

Certified Water Managers must have at least one project in the Water Management Performance Program at all times, and that project must meet the assigned water budget for the previous 12-month period. Sites are checked quarterly to determine if performance criteria have been achieved. The quarter end dates are March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31. For more information, see the Performance Program page.

Expert Certified Water Managers must have at least five projects in the Water Management Performance Program at all times and those projects must meet their water budgets for the previous 12-month period. For more information, see the Performance Program page.

Continuing Education

CLCA does not require continuing education units to maintain your certification. What is required is the continued management (including the submittal of meter readings) of the qualifying property under the certification standards. Failure to submit monthly meter readings will place your certification status in jeopardy.

CLCA's Water Manager Certification Program is about results!

• Higher profits
• Lower labor costs
• Enhanced customer retention
• Endorsements from water districts (free marketing for your quality services)

Proof of results

Pacific Crest Landscape & Maintenance, Inc. in San Jose recently obtained a 30 percent rate hike from one client after showing — with actual figures based on documented water use — how much money that the client was saving each year due to Pacific Crest's effective water management practices. Both parties came out thousands of dollars ahead, even after the rate increase.

CLCA's Water Management Certification Program is very thorough. A good track record with water management produces quantified results, which you can show to clients as proof of their benefits in doing business with you. Water savings is a trend that will impact landscape businesses more and more as time goes on. — Flavio Velez, President, LandGraphics, San Diego