A nutrient trading program has saved the state of Virginia more than $1 million while constraining runoff of phosphorus, a fertilizer, into the Chesapeake Bay, said EPA. “It is expected similar programs will be established around the nation to provide new revenue sources for agricultural producers while reducing soil erosion and runoff,” said an agency statement. Under the Virginia program, roadbuilders can purchase phosphorus credits from state-certified credit banks. The credits are generated by farmers in the Potomac and James River basins who alter their farming practices to reduce phosphorus runoff. The credit bank approach costs half of traditional methods such as detention ponds.
“EPA and USDA are working together to implement and coordinate policies and programs that encourage water quality trading and will release a web-based water quality trading roadmap tool in early 2015,” said EPA.
The environmental group Food and Water Watch said the Virginia program would do little to reduce pollution, based on the results of other nutrient-trading programs. “Our government agencies have relied on voluntary programs for agriculture to clean up the Bay and other waterways for 40 years, yet agriculture remains the number one source of nutrient pollution,” it said officials “would be better off by implementing and enforcing laws that already exist, including the Clean Water Act.”