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Informing market-based policy decision making: The East Fork Watershed Study
Citation:
Nietch, C. AND Matt Heberling. Informing market-based policy decision making: The East Fork Watershed Study. 2018 Ohio River Basin Consortium for Research and Education and Ohio River Basin Alliance Summit, Crestview Hills, KY, October 17 - 19, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus (nutrient pollution) continues to cause major water quality problems. This presentation describes research being conducted by ORD in the Ohio River Basin to increase the success rate of nutrient trading, or water quality trading. Trading is a market-based approach that has been proposed as a cost-effective approach to achieve nutrient pollution reductions at watershed scales. Nutrient trading has had limited success because of significant barriers. This research focuses on two: 1) Uncertainties associated with modeling the watershed system and 2) Few trades between point sources and non-point sources. To address the limited success we suggest the consideration of non-traditional buyers and sellers. We developed a framework for considering these alternative participants that includes the development of analytical procedures that use monitoring and watershed models to compare the cost effectiveness of nutrient management options. These procedures will be described in the presentation. Specific studies that are underway to evaluate and validate model predictions to help address the uncertainty problem will also be described. A comprehensive framework for determining the cost effectiveness of nutrient reduction alternatives expedites the watershed-scale planning process.
Description:
Nutrient trading has had limited success because of significant barriers. This research focuses on two: 1) Uncertainties associated with modeling the watershed system and 2) Few trades between point sources and non-point sources. To address the limited success we suggest the consideration of non-traditional buyers and sellers. We developed a framework for considering these alternative participants that includes the development of analytical procedures that use monitoring and watershed models to compare the cost effectiveness of nutrient management options. These procedures will be described in the presentation. Specific studies that are underway to evaluate and validate model predictions to help address the uncertainty problem will also be described. A comprehensive framework for determining the cost effectiveness of nutrient reduction alternatives expedites the watershed-scale planning process.