Trading as a U.S. Water Quality Management Tool: Prospects for a Market Alternative

Abstract

The paper reviews current experience with water quality trading programs and evaluates trading's potential as a future water quality management tool. The relative virtues of cap and trade (CAT) versus regulatory offset programs are discussed, as are administrative and technical barriers to trading. Several existing trade programs are discussed in detail. The article places particular emphasis on the relationship between water quality trading and watershed-based regulatory initiatives such as the total maximum daily load program.

Citation

Boyd, J.W., Shabman, L.A. and Stephenson, K. (2007), "Trading as a U.S. Water Quality Management Tool: Prospects for a Market Alternative", Erickson, J.D., Messner, F. and Ring, I. (Ed.) Ecological Economics of Sustainable Watershed Management (Advances in the Economics of Environmental Resources, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 385-407. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-3740(07)07016-2