SODA CLASS 003 - Water

Water

SODA-003 issues one-year water outcomes measured in water-years (wy) across four sub-classes: 003Q Water Quantity (availability/flows/storage), 003WQ Water Quality (pollutant load reduction), 003MC Marine Carbonate Chemistry (ocean alkalinity services), and 003G Green-water Soil Moisture (root-zone moisture). Ex-post issuance with verification and a full evidence bundle (LRPDS).

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Targeted impact: Keep catchments, coasts and working lands within safe operating ranges for people and nature - measured, audited, comparable.

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Why the SODA Standard matters here?

• Comparable units across diverse actions. Different water outcomes are translated into a single service unit (wy) for year-to-year tracking.

• No double counting; one claim per unit. Public, searchable claims prevent re-use.

• Verification before issuance. Independent checks and conservative estimates are mandatory.

Note: SODA-003 is not a water-rights instrument; it evidences outcomes and claims.

Sub-classes:

003Q — Water Quantity

• Outline: Verified improvements in availability, flows, or storage across a one-year period.

• Where it applies: On-farm retention, managed aquifer recharge, environmental flows delivery.

• Worked example: A farm cluster deploys retention basins that sustain baseflows through dry months; the verified

• service is recorded as wy under the applicable method.

003WQ — Water Quality

• Outline: Quantified reductions in pollutant loads reaching waterways (e.g., N, P, sediments), expressed in wy after method conversion.

• Where it applies: Wetlands, riparian buffers, treatment systems.

• Worked example: A constructed wetland captures nutrient loads across the year; the verified annual outcome mints wy with all calculations in the LRPDS.

003MC — Marine Carbonate Chemistry

• Outline: Actions that measurably improve local carbonate chemistry (e.g., alkalinity addition) to counter acidification pressure, reported in wy (with alkalinity equivalents used in quantification).

• Where it applies: Blue-carbon and coastal protection projects with robust monitoring.

• Worked example: A pilot increases alkalinity in a defined bay; the verified effect over the year is issued as wy per method rules.

003G — Green-water Soil Moisture

• Outline: Verified maintenance/improvement of root-zone soil moisture over a year (critical for crop resilience and runoff reduction).

• Where it applies: Regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, groundcover restoration.

• Worked example: A landholder documents higher soil-moisture retention throughout the season; verified outcome is issued in wy.

Claims guardrails: State the service, the place, the time window, and the amount. Link the claim to its SODA IDs and LRPDS so anyone can check the maths and monitoring.