Water Quality Trading: A tool to strengthen NPS pollution control

During the 19th and 20th centuries, federal water policies were created to develop agricultural industries and to settle the western U.S. Currently, agriculture uses between 70 and 95 percent of water resources in western states. Although the Clean Water Act (CWA) has effectively improved point source pollution problems, there is much left to accomplish regarding nonpoint source (NPS) pollution generated from municipal storm water and agricultural runoff. Current efforts to control NPS pollution involve state water quality monitoring, watershed planning and citizen education. States also provide technical assistance, in the form of Best Management Practices (BMPs), to farmers and ranchers to control NPS pollution on agricultural lands. Water quality trading is a market-based approach to improve water quality. A pollutant is treated as a commodity that can be purchased and sold to achieve and maintain water quality goals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a Water Quality Trading Policy consistent with mandates outlined by the CWA to guide states and tribes in attaining and preserving water quality standards. According to Section 303 of the CWA, quantitative and qualitative water quality criteria are established to protect beneficial uses and preserve water quality. TMDLs are required on waters listed as impaired. In addition to TMDLs and watershed planning, EPA's Water Quality Trading Policy program aims to facilitate TMDL implementation further through lowering NPS pollution control costs, thereby encouraging watershed initiatives and voluntary pollutant reductions...Reno Gazette Journal