Publications
Water Quality Trading
Advancing voluntary and market-based solutions for improving water quality in a manner that maximizes economic efficiency and maintains environmental integrity.
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Nutrient Trading By Municipal Stormwater Programs In Maryland And Virginia: Three Case Studies
by Cy Jones, Beth McGee, Lee Epstein, Erik Fisher and Peggy Sanner - March 2017Efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay will benefit from nutrient trading to help meet stormwater requirements, which can be the most challenging to achieve. WRI and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation studied three counties—two in Maryland and one in Virginia—to explore the potential for nutrient trading with the stormwater sector.
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Building a Water Quality Trading Program: Options and Considerations
A Product of the National Network on Water Quality Trading
by Todd Gartner - June 2015The United States has made significant progress in cleaning its rivers, lakes, and oceans. Investment in wastewater treatment plant technology, conservation practices with land managers, and restoration of natural systems is working in many places.
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Addressing Risk and Uncertainty in Water Quality Trading Markets
by Sara Walker and Mindy Selman - March 2014Across the United States, water quality trading is being explored as a mechanism for reducing the costs of cleaning up impaired waterbodies.
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Comparison Tables of State Nutrient Trading Programs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
by Evan Branosky, Cy Jones and Mindy Selman - May 2011Over the last ten years, four Chesapeake Bay states—Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia—introduced nutrient trading programs to provide wastewater treatment plants with flexible options for meeting and maintaining
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How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Pennsylvania Farms
by John Talberth, Cy Jones, Michelle Perez, Mindy Selman and Evan Branosky - August 2010Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States, is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for both the region and the nation. But the water quality and the overall ecology of the bay have been harmed by excess runoff and discharges of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and
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How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Maryland Farms
by John Talberth, Cy Jones, Michelle Perez, Mindy Selman and Evan Branosky - June 2010The largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for the region and the nation. Excess runoff and discharges of nutrients—particularly nitrogen and phosphorus—from farms, pavement, wastewater treatment plants
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How Baywide Nutrient Trading Could Benefit Virginia Farms
by John Talberth, Cy Jones, Michelle Perez, Mindy Selman and Evan Branosky - April 2010The largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for the region and the nation. Excess runoff and discharges of nutrients—particularly nitrogen and phosphorus—from farms, pavement, wastewater treatment plants
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How Nutrient Trading Could Help Restore the Chesapeake Bay
by Cy Jones, Evan Branosky, Mindy Selman and Michelle Perez - February 2010The largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay is a vital economic, cultural, and ecological resource for the region and the nation. Excess runoff and discharges of nutrients—particularly nitrogen and phosphorus—from farms, pavement, wastewater treatment plants
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Eutrophication: Policies, Action, and Strategies to Address Nutrient Pollution
by Mindy Selman and Suzie Greenhalgh - September 2009Nutrient overenrichment of freshwater and coastal ecosystems—or eutrophication—is a rapidly growing environmental crisis. Worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophication stands at over 500.
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Water Quality Trading Programs: An International Overview
by Mindy Selman, Evan Branosky and Cy Jones - March 2009Water quality trading is gaining traction in a number of watersheds around the world. It is a market-based approach that works alongside water quality regulation to improve water quality, providing
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Conservation Best Management Practices, Cost-share and Water Quality Trading Programs
by Mindy Selman, Suzie Greenhalgh and Michael Taylor - July 2006This Policy Note outlines economic and "fairness" reasons why supporting the sale of the cost-share portion of agricultural nutrient and sediment reductions is not the most appropriate policy for the USDA and other government agencies to adopt.
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Paying for Environmental Performance: Investing in Farmers and the Environment
by Jenny Guiling, Mindy Selman and Suzie Greenhalgh - July 2006This Policy Note explores the allocation of funding in Farm Bill conservation programs, and offers recommendations on how to more efficiently and effectively allocate conservation funding.
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Fertile ground
Nutrient trading's potential to cost-effectively improve water quality
by Paul Faeth - May 2000In the United States today, almost 3,400 waterways are impaired by nutrient pollution. The Clean Water Act and other federal and state programs have helped to improve water quality, but much remains to be done to meet national goals.