Pollutant Trading: An Innovative Approach to Achieving Water Quality Benefits

Watershed-based trading is an innovative way for water quality agencies and community stakeholders to develop common-sense, cost-effective solutions to water quality problems in their watershed. It is a flexible alternative that allows the communities within a watershed to grow and prosper while retaining a common commitment to water quality. Communities, industries, and regulatory agencies around the country have shown great interest in watershed-based trading recently, as an innovative approach to achieve water quality benefits in a more cost-effective manner than traditional approaches allow. Even with all the interest, actual implementation of trading programs has been largely missing. The EPA Draft Framework for Watershed-Based Trading provides a strong overview of the trading concept, but potential trading partners need more hands-on guidance to transform this concept into a viable, working trading program.