A finding on the previous page was that none of California's water credential path is machine readable: zero structured data, no llms.txt, no sitemap served, and 54 PDFs on one page. Rather than describe that gap, we filled it. Everything below is ours, free, and correct as of 2026-08-16. Copy it, host it, change it, or hand it to the Water Boards to publish under their own name. We would prefer the last one.
| Piece | What it is for |
|---|---|
| llms.txt | The one file an assistant fetches first to learn what a site is and where its real answers live. A plain text convention, not a standard, and cheap to publish. |
| Credential objects | The D1 and Wastewater Grade I requirements as structured data, so an assistant can compare cost and eligibility without opening a PDF. |
| A HowTo object | The seven steps of the D1 path in schema.org form, so the sequence survives being read by a machine. |
| Tool schemas | The live calls that let an assistant find work, claim it, prove it, and fund it on our board. |
| A concierge brief | What to say to a person who arrives with no credential and no contacts, and what never to say. |
These objects describe California's published requirements. They are not issued by California, they are not a credential, and they are not authoritative. Every one carries its source URL. If ours and the state's disagree, the state's is right and ours is stale.
What a Water Boards /llms.txt could say. Today that path returns 404.
# California State Water Resources Control Board
> California's water quality regulator. Permits water and wastewater
> discharges, certifies the operators who run treatment and distribution
> systems, and requires SWPPP credentials on regulated construction sites.
## Becoming a certified operator
- [Start here, no experience](/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/DWopcert.html):
Grade D1 and T1 need a high school diploma or GED and one passed exam.
No work experience, no employer, no college. Exam $50, certificate $70.
- [Drinking water operator certification](/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/DWopcert.html):
five grades, treatment and distribution. About 35,000 certified operators.
- [Wastewater operator certification](/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/operator_certification.html):
five grades. Grade I needs a year of qualifying experience.
- [Operator-In-Training](/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/oit_info.html):
the wastewater entry rung. The plant position may be paid OR volunteer.
- [Exam process](/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/docs/cbt_process_overview.pdf):
year round computer based testing, 30+ centres, no application deadlines.
## Construction stormwater credentials
- [2022 Construction General Permit](/water_issues/programs/stormwater/construction/general_permit_reissuance.html):
requires a QSD to write the SWPPP and a QSP to implement and inspect it.
- [Approved QSD and QSP prerequisites](/water_issues/programs/stormwater/construction/general_permit_reissuance.html):
the authoritative list. Licensed PEs, PGs and EGs may self register in SMARTS.
## Fees
- [Drinking water fee schedule](/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/documents/opcert/feeslist.pdf)
- [Wastewater fee schedule](/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/docs/forms/fee_increase.pdf)
## Optional
- [Public operator directory, drinking water](https://wbapps.waterboards.ca.gov/opcert/PublicSearchDw.xhtml)
- [Public operator directory, wastewater](https://wbapps.waterboards.ca.gov/opcert/PublicSearch.xhtml)schema.org EducationalOccupationalCredential. recognizedBy names the issuing authority; publisher names who wrote this description, which is us.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "EducationalOccupationalCredential",
"name": "Grade D1 Drinking Water Distribution Operator Certificate",
"credentialCategory": "certificate",
"competencyRequired": "High school diploma or GED equivalency; pass the Grade D1 operator examination within the three years prior to applying",
"educationalLevel": "entry",
"recognizedBy": {
"@type": "GovernmentOrganization",
"name": "California State Water Resources Control Board",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/"
},
"validIn": { "@type": "State", "name": "California" },
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/DWopcert.html",
"offers": [
{ "@type": "Offer", "name": "Examination application fee",
"price": "50.00", "priceCurrency": "USD" },
{ "@type": "Offer", "name": "Certification application fee",
"price": "70.00", "priceCurrency": "USD" }
],
"disambiguatingDescription": "No work experience, no employer and no college course are required for Grade D1. Supervisor letters, organisation charts and job descriptions apply to Grades 3 to 5 only.",
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization", "name": "EcoWealth Corporation",
"url": "https://vealth.net/"
},
"sdPublisher": "EcoWealth Corporation. This is a third-party description of a public requirement, not an official state record.",
"sdDatePublished": "2026-08-16",
"citation": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/documents/opcert/distribution_qualifications.pdf"
}And the harder door, described the same way, with its gate stated rather than hidden:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "EducationalOccupationalCredential",
"name": "Grade I Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Certificate",
"credentialCategory": "certificate",
"competencyRequired": "High school diploma or GED plus 6 educational points, AND one year of full-time qualifying experience",
"recognizedBy": {
"@type": "GovernmentOrganization",
"name": "California State Water Resources Control Board",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/"
},
"validIn": { "@type": "State", "name": "California" },
"offers": [
{ "@type": "Offer", "name": "Examination application fee",
"price": "220.00", "priceCurrency": "USD" },
{ "@type": "Offer", "name": "Certification application fee",
"price": "228.00", "priceCurrency": "USD" }
],
"disambiguatingDescription": "The qualifying experience normally comes through an Operator-In-Training certificate, which requires a position at a WWOCP-classified plant and the Chief Plant Operator's signature BEFORE applying. The state's own page states the position may be paid or volunteer.",
"publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "EcoWealth Corporation" },
"sdPublisher": "EcoWealth Corporation. Third-party description, not an official state record.",
"sdDatePublished": "2026-08-16",
"citation": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/docs/ocr_table.pdf"
}The sequence is the part that gets lost when a path is spread across PDFs. This keeps it.
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "HowTo",
"name": "Become a certified drinking water distribution operator in California, starting with no experience",
"totalTime": "P8W",
"estimatedCost": { "@type": "MonetaryAmount", "currency": "USD", "value": "120" },
"supply": [{ "@type": "HowToSupply", "name": "High school diploma or GED" }],
"step": [
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 1,
"name": "Confirm you qualify",
"text": "Grade D1 requires a high school diploma or GED equivalency. Nothing else.",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/documents/opcert/distribution_qualifications.pdf" },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 2,
"name": "Send the exam application",
"text": "No deadline and no filing window for drinking water exams. Fee $50. Paper form or the OCIS portal.",
"url": "https://wbapps.waterboards.ca.gov/opcert/" },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 3,
"name": "Wait for approval",
"text": "Approved applicants are notified by email within 30 days, or by letter if no email was given." },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 4,
"name": "Book the exam",
"text": "Approval opens a 90 day window to schedule and sit the exam at a Prometric centre. Government issued photo ID, arrive 30 minutes early.",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/operator_certification/docs/cbt_process_overview.pdf" },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 5,
"name": "Study the Expected Range of Knowledge",
"text": "It is the real syllabus. No 36 hour specialised training course is required for D1; that begins at D2.",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/documents/opcert/2016/dist_range_of_know.pdf" },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 6,
"name": "Apply for the certificate",
"text": "For Grades 1 and 2, complete and mail back the bottom portion of the pass notice with the $70 fee. No supervisor letter required.",
"url": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/occupations/documents/opcert/distributioncertificationprocess.pdf" },
{ "@type": "HowToStep", "position": 7,
"name": "Look for work",
"text": "Water districts, municipal utilities and private water companies hire D1 operators. The state's free public directory shows which employers in a county hold certified operators.",
"url": "https://wbapps.waterboards.ca.gov/opcert/PublicSearchDw.xhtml" }
],
"publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "EcoWealth Corporation" },
"sdDatePublished": "2026-08-16"
}These are ours and they are running. JSON-RPC over POST at https://vealth.net/mcp. No API key, no auth, no account. tools/list is the authority on what exists; the table below is the subset this ramp uses.
| Tool | Does | Costs |
|---|---|---|
find_work | Search the public board by place, text, and skill level. | Free |
how_to_claim | Returns the exact claiming procedure. Never performs the claim. | Free |
prepare_claim / submit_claim | Claim a packet. Prepare returns a message; the worker signs; submit sends it. | Free |
prepare_proof / submit_proof | Submit the proof the packet asked for. | Free |
work_status / my_work | Where a claim or a person's whole queue stands. | Free |
funding_quote | Ask whether one packet can be funded and what it costs. Price read from the board. | Free |
prepare_funding | The real payment. The only path that marks a packet funded. | Buyer's own wallet or card |
prepare_backing / submit_backing | A free signed pledge on the public backer ledger. Moves no money. | Free |
board_stats | Live board counts. Public mirror at /labor/stats. | Free |
curl -sS https://vealth.net/mcp \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call",
"params":{"name":"find_work",
"arguments":{"near":"Los Angeles, CA",
"query":"storm drain",
"skillLevel":"entry"}}}'If an assistant is going to represent this ramp to a person, this is the whole instruction.
ROLE
You help a person in California get from no credential to paid water or
stormwater work. You are not a recruiter, a school, or a state agency.
FIRST QUESTION, ALWAYS
"Do you have a high school diploma or GED?"
yes -> Grade D1 is open to them today. $120 total. Start there.
no -> a GED is the prerequisite for every water operator grade in
California. Say so plainly and point at adult education, then
come back. Rung 0 is still open to them in the meantime.
SECOND QUESTION
"Do you know anyone at a treatment plant?"
yes -> the wastewater path (rung 3) is realistic. Mention that the
position may be paid OR volunteer.
no -> do not send them at the wastewater path first. It needs an
employer's signature before they can apply. D1 first.
THIRD QUESTION
"Construction sites, or utilities?"
construction -> QSP, rung 4. Warn that the total cost is not published
anywhere and that they should ask CASQA before paying.
utilities -> D1 or T1, rung 2.
ALWAYS
- Give the next step and the link. Never say "research your options".
- Name the price every time you name a step.
- Rung 0 runs in parallel with everything. Someone can be doing real
stormwater work this week while their exam application is in the post.
- Link the state's own document for every state requirement.
NEVER
- Never imply EcoWealth issues, endorses, or influences a state credential.
- Never quote a fee we did not read from a published schedule. The CASQA
course and exam fees are unknown to us; say "ask them" instead of a number.
- Never promise pay. Posted pay is proposed until a packet is funded.
- Never ask for a private key. A signature only.
- Never tell someone claiming costs money. It is free.An A2A style descriptor, for an assistant discovering this ramp as a service rather than a page.
{
"name": "california-water-ramp",
"description": "Walks a person in California from no credential to paid water or stormwater work: the state's own published requirements in order, with prices, plus a live board of entry level work that needs no credential.",
"provider": { "organization": "EcoWealth Corporation", "url": "https://vealth.net/" },
"version": "1.0.0",
"documentation": "https://vealth.net/waterboards/ramp.html",
"endpoint": { "transport": "jsonrpc-http", "url": "https://vealth.net/mcp" },
"authentication": { "schemes": [] },
"skills": [
{ "id": "next_rung",
"description": "Given what a person already has, return the single next step, its price, and its source link.",
"inputs": ["has_diploma", "has_plant_contact", "lane"] },
{ "id": "find_entry_work",
"description": "Real entry level ecological and stormwater work near a place, claimable with no credential.",
"tool": "find_work" },
{ "id": "fund_a_rung",
"description": "For a buyer: quote and fund one packet, or record a free pledge.",
"tools": ["funding_quote", "prepare_funding", "prepare_backing"] }
],
"authority": {
"state_requirements": "https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/",
"note": "EcoWealth issues no credential. Where this card and the State Water Resources Control Board disagree, the Board is correct."
}
}