Our Committment The Encina Wastewater Authority's (EWA) Biosolids Policy commits to developing an Environmental Management System (EMS) for its biosolids program. The EMS is a management tool utilized to improve the effectiveness of plant operations, meet regulatory requirements, and address environmental issues associated with biosolids production and handling. Biosolids EMS program implementation and management will be coordinated by the EMS Coordinator. The EMS Coordinator will function as the point-of-contact between all EWA personnel involved in biosolids activities and identified Interested Parties. An annual biosolids program performance report will be published by the EWA and made available to the public upon request. The report will include annual biosolids performance, monitoring and measurement results that ensure compliance with regulations, successes and failures of the program, and continual improvement goals and objectives for the management of biosolids. The EWA will have an independent outside agency conduct an audit of its Biosolids EMS based on the National Biosolids Partnership (NBP) guidelines and industry standards for environmental management systems. Once the program is verified by the outside auditor, the NBP will provide certification of the EWA's Biosolids EMS. An independent third-party auditor will then perform re-certification every five years. The audit results will be released to Interested Parties and available to the public upon request. In addition, the EWA will conduct an internal EMS audit on an annual basis to ensure it is meeting the NBP requirements and following the established guidelines outlined in the NBP EMS Guidance Manual. The internal audit results will be reviewed by management and used to determine if changes are necessary to the Biosolids EMS. The internal audit results will be made available upon request. The EWA is committed to managing its biosolids in an environmentally sound, sustainable, socially accepted, cost-effective, and safe manner. Implementation of the Biosolids EMS will help achieve this goal by developing a management program that cuts across and integrates pretreatment, wastewater treatment, and biosolids activities. Our Commitment includes: NBP's Code of Good Practice EWA's Biosolids Management Policy EWA's Mission Statement