E X E C U T I V E S U M M A RY

WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH FOUNDATION WATERSHEDS AND WATER QUALITY

Water Quality Credit Trading: PowerPoint Workbook for a Detailed Assessment of Opportunities and Options

ater quality credit trading can help watershed stake h o l d e rs reach water quality goals more cost effectively, faster, and/or with broader benefits than traditional approaches. This project will be of particular use to those watershed stake h o l d e rs who are interested in exploring how water quality credit trading could be a part of their wa t e rshed management strategy. To help people structure and advance their trading initiative, the WERF project team created a workbook of PowerPoint presentations that bring together new The Powerpoint workbook includes inform ainformation, specific examples, analyses, tion, analyses, guidance, templates, checklists, models, and templates. and re f e re nces that offer a systematic process in the form of ready-made presentations. The PowerPointformat is versatile and can be used in a variety of waysby an individual at a desktop, by a small group in a meeting setting, or with a larger group in a seminar or workshop. The workbook contains five sessions that are focused on screening opportunities and establishing an overall process for exploration, decision making, and stakeholder issues. It also includes a set of 11 sessions that cover specific elements necessary in a viable water quality credit trading market.

B E N EFITS
Provides a systematic approach to evaluating water quality trading opportunities and decision making. Format is useful in a variety of ways and for a range of venues, from individual desktop tutorials to multi-stakeholder w o rkshops. Provides self-assessment tools and relevant examples. Can be used as is or modified to include information specific to a watershed.

RELATED PRODUCTS
Phosphorus Credit Trading in the Cherry Creek Basin: An Innovative Approach (97IRM5a) Nitrogen Credit Trading in the Long Island Sound Watershed (97IRM5b) Nitrogen Credit Trading in Maryland: A Market Analysis for Establishing a Statew i d e Framework (97IRM5e) Nutrient Farming and Traditional Removal: An Economic Comparison (03WSM6CO)

Why Trade?
Trading generally allows one source (the buyer) to meet its regulatory obligations by using pollutant reduction credits created by another source (the seller) that can provide the same or greater water quality benefit. The seller presumably can deliver these benefits at a lower cost, or with some other type of efficiency (i.e., faster), in a higher priority location, or with additional benefits ancillary to water quality. Trading is one way to capture greater efficiency in achieving water quality goals on a wa t e rshed basis, according to U.S. EPAs 2003 Final Water Quality Trading Policy. U.S. EPA policy states that, among other things, trading is potentially useful for achieving early reductions and progress toward water quality standards (pending development of TMDLs for impaired waters), as well as reducing the cost of implementing TMDLs with greater efficiency and flexibility. Trading can offset new or increased discharges resulting from growth in order to maintain levels of water quality that support all designated uses. It can also combine ecological services to achieve multiple environmental and economic benefits, such as wetland restoration.

RELATED ONGOING RESEARCH

Nutrient Removal and Recovery Challenge (NUTR)

AVAILABLE FORMAT
CD ROM and online PDF.

TO ORDER
Contact WERF at 703-684-2470 or visit www.werf.org and click on Publications. WERF Subscribers : Your first copy of this report is free. Additional copies are $10 each or download unlimited free PDFs at www.werf.org. Non-Subscribers: Hardcopy: $165 PDF: $50 Refer to: STOCK

How Can this Workbook Help You?

The overall framew o rk for trading has several components, including the legal and scientific aspects of water quality; regulatory, policy, and planning elements; the credit market, including supply, demand, economics, and transactional considerations; and stakeholder involvement and public participation. By its structure, this work b o o k

NO. 02WSM1

For more information, log on to www.werf.org.

E X E C U T I V E S U M M A RY

Water Quality Credit Trading: PowerPoint Workbook for a Detailed Assessment of Opportunities and Options

This user guide and workbook can help stakeholders interested in water quality credit trading fill gaps in their understanding of trading, augment their capabilities to undertake a trading program, and facilitate trading deliberations at the watershed-level to help more programs meet watershed goals and objectives.

CONTRACTOR
Elise Bacon CH2M HILL

PROJECT TEAM
Becky Weig Cy Jones Tom Dupuis Linda Macphers o n Lorraine Jameson Ken Hardy Karen Malley CH2M HILL

emphasizes the framework and helps users figure out if they might benefit from a credit market, if they have the potential makings of a credit market, and, if so, how they might go about evaluating, selecting, and packaging the market elements that best fit their situation. Other considerations include stakeholder identification, roles, and pers p e c t i v e s , with a discussion on whether stakeholders as a group are ready to consider trading options. Regulatory, policy, and planning elements are addressed by way of example in the many case illustrations contained throughout the workbook. The workbook, which is designed as a starter kit, will help stakeholders, including regulated entities and regulatory agencies, fill gaps in their understanding of trading, augment their capabilities to undert a ke such a program, and facilitate trading deliberations at the wa t e rshed level. It is provided as a PowerPointworkbook because experience has demonstrated that trading efforts are often undert a ken in group forums. The workbook is a supplement to existing guides and handbooks, many of which are listed in the reference section.

PROJECT SUBCOMMITTEE
Robin L. Autenrieth, Ph.D., PE., Chair . Research Council Liaison Texas A&M Univers i t y Ronda Sandquist Jackson Kelly, PLLC Lynda Hall (stepped down 9/2005) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Cy Jones (stepped down 9/2005) Formerly with Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

COLLABORATORS
Boise City Public Wo rk s Clean Water Services Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection City of Denton M o n t g o m e ryWater Works & Sanitary Sewer Board Metro Wastewater Reclamation District National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District South Nation Conservation The research on which this report is based was funded in part by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) through Cooperative Agreement No. CR-827345-01 with the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF). Unless an U.S. EPA logo appears on the cover, this report is a publication of WERF, not U.S. EPA. Funds awarded under the agreement cited above were not used for editorial services, reproduction, printing, or distribution. 01/09

Workbook Overview
The workbook provides tools and guidance that will help users :
p r o p e rl evaluate whether trading is a feasible and beneficial addition to their ov e r a l l y wa t e rshed management and improvement plan;

carefully assess strengths, weaknesses, and readiness;

build and maintain the necessary level of trust among stake h o l d e rs to work collaboratively toward a common goal; u n d e rstand the full range of alternatives, and select the market structure that best meets local needs; and

successfully integrate a trading program into the existing regulatory structure to the satisfaction of traders, regulators, environmentalists, and other stakeholders.

The workbook includes information, analyses, guidance, examples, templates, checklists, model elements, and references that offer an organized, systematic process in the form of ready-made presentations. It also includes a list of useful trading references. The workbook provides a step-by-step, systematic approach to evaluating water quality credit trading opportunities and making good decisions for a specific situation. The sessions can be used as is or can be modified by the user to include additional i n f o rm tion specific to a wa t e rs h e d u s e rs do not have to start from scratch to develop a the format and content of presentations.

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