Pennsylvania initiated its water quality credit trading program for nutrients and sediments in October 2005.  The program has evolved and will continue to do so as buyers (primarily wastewater treatment plants) and sellers (farms and other wastewater treatment plants) learn how to participate a program intended to reduce the discharge of nutrients by providing cost efficient options for dischargers.  Extension publications and presentations are offered here to assist educators in providing balanced information about how environmental markets like water quality credit trading work and what challenges must be addressed in the design of a trading program.
 

Bay stakeholders taking first steps to offset 'nutrient footprints,' Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Bay Journal, July/August 2008

Assessing Outcomes of Water Quality Trading Programs (Dr. Doug Parker, UMD and Dr. Charlie Abdalla, PSU, 2nd National Water Quality Trading Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, May 2006)

Getting Paid for Stewardship: An Agricultural Community Water Quality Trading Guide (Conservation Information Technology Center, Purdue University, July 2006)

Introduction to Water Quality in the Mid-Atlantic Region