In plain English
Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting
Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting is a water method run by World Resources Institute. People often refer to it by its code, VWBA 2.0. It works in the water replenishment space.
In short
The de-facto methodology standard for replenishment and volumetric water claims, with a companion Water Quality Benefit Accounting framework.
What it is
Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting 2.0 is a guidance document from the World Resources Institute and partners for quantifying the volumetric water benefits of water stewardship activities. It provides a six step, principle based approach for identifying activities such as watershed restoration, improved irrigation, and supply protection, and for quantifying, tracking, and communicating the resulting benefits. A water benefit is expressed as a volume of water, for example cubic metres or gallons, provided to or protected within a catchment over a defined period. The guidance is voluntary and covers both direct and enabled volumetric water benefits.
What it rewards
The reward is a credit called a Volumetric Water Benefit (VWB). One credit stands for one cubic metre of water saved, cleaned or returned to a river. One cubic metre of water supplied, purified or conserved. A whole period of work is issued as one batch of credits at a time, in the same way a registry issues a batch.
What gets measured
To earn VWB credits, a project has to measure and prove a few things. An independent reviewer checks the evidence before any credits are issued.
The catchment and the kind of water work being done, such as replenishment, saving water or cleaning it up.
The starting water balance for the catchment, before the project.
The net amount of water benefit measured for the period, checked by an independent reviewer.
Who takes part
Standard Registry. Owns the policy, approves participants, anchors each issuance to its evidence.
Project Proponent. Registers the project and submits monitoring reports.
Validation & Verification Body. Independently validates the design and verifies monitored data.
How it works
- 1
The project team registers the project and its plan.
- 2
An independent reviewer checks that the plan is sound and that the benefit is real and would not have happened anyway.
- 3
The team looks after the site and measures the agreed indicators over time.
- 4
The independent reviewer verifies those measurements.
- 5
Credits are issued for the verified result, and a buyer can retire a credit to claim the benefit once.
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