The PWD program was instituted in the wake of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) abandoning their accrediting program.  The void left uncertainty in the development and regulatory industries as to both the understanding of developers on the process of correctly delineating and permitting waters of the United States  (WOTUS)(i.e. wetlands, streams , etc.) and providing more surety with regard to protecting the waters of the United States and other associated resources.  The PWD program was instituted to fill that void.  In similar fashion history is repeating itself with the recent Supreme Court of the U.S. ruling, where federal limits of jurisdiction wetlands were changed.  Again another gap in the protection of wetlands in the Commonwealth, where the USACE stopped issuing jurisdictional determination and permitting was drastically slowed.  The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality(VDEQ) filled the gap with its trust of those with PWDs and issuing a guidance letter providing a process whereby a PWD could obtain confirmation of the limits WOTUS through VDEQ and providing permitting options through the VDEQ permitting process.  This effort to provide regulatory certainty would not have been possible without the PWD certification and VDEQ’s trust and understanding of the expertise of the PWD practitioners.  The ramifications of regulatory uncertainty has far reaching and unintended consequences for Virginia’s economy, the protection of wetlands, and the many associated resources and benefits that theses resources provide to Commonwealth.