The median score in the Wastewater section has increased by 17 points. The majority of facility scores fall between a 34-point drop and a 52-point increase.
New questions added to this section are aligned with the ZDHC Wastewater Guideline and ZDHC Wastewater Sludge Guideline. Many facilities positively answer these questions if they have enrolled in the ZDHC Wastewater scheme.
The improvement in scoring is also due to the restructuring of questions. Questions were split into several questions to improve performance tracking and drive positive behavior.
For example, in FEM 3.0, facilities that fall into the “Treat Domestic Wastewater using Septic system” applicability category only needed to answer one question that involves at least two different requirements to achieve a full point of that question. In FEM 4.0, this question was split into two different questions, rewarding facilities separately, so if they are only able to achieve one requirement but not the other, they can still receive points instead of 0 for the entire Wastewater section.
Disclaimer: The score assessment completed by Cascale is biased for the following reasons:
- The analysis was completed on more than 5200 posted modules in the first three months of FEM 2023 adoption, compared to their FEM 2022 score.
- Cascale evaluated facilities that posted their module at the start of the cadence introducing selection bias. Facilities that post early in the cadence are usually returning and more experienced in completing the FEM assessment.
- With the narrowed scope of core verification in 2024 of Levels 2 and 3, there is no validation of the accuracy of those responses this year. Score increases may be due to inaccurate responses.