Water quality trading programs envision regulated point sources meeting discharge control requirements and then being allowed to increase their nutrient discharge if they secure nutrient reduction credits from other pollutant sources in the watershed. Reduction credits can be created when...

Policy analysts and government agencies promote a particular form of what they term water quality trading as a means to address the most vexing obstacle to meeting water quality standards: reducing nutrient pollutants from agricultural nonpoint sources. However, agricultural nonpoint sources’...