EPA SELECTS CHARLES RIVER WATERSHED ASSOCIATION FOR INNOVATIVE WATER TRADING PROJECT

Boston, MA..... The US Environmental Protection Agency today announced that the Charles River Watershed Association (CRWA) has been chosen as one of only 11 projects in the country for piloting the agency's new water quality trading program announced last month by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.

CRWA is pursuing an innovative project in which increased in-stream flows in the river would be used as a trading tool for addressing the river's water quality problems. CRWA has established, over years of study, that one of the principle effects of urbanization on the water cycle is to de-water aquifers, streams and rivers.  By setting up a trading program, CRWA intends to create a market to increase flows in the Charles River, particularly during the period between April and November, thus decreasing the concentrations of pollutants in the river and providing greater habitat and resilience to drought.  River flows would be increased primarily by capturing rainwater before it gets contaminated by parking lot grease and oil, or herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, or animal waste, and recharging, or putting that water back into the ground.

The project, still in its early stages, was kicked off with a $106,000 grant from the EPA Office of Watersheds, Oceans and Waterways in Washington, DC, and was one of 11 such awards nationally

"Wastewater treatment plants for municipalities like Milford, Medway and Millis, or for corporations that discharge to the Charles spend tremendous sums of money to remove pollution from their wastewater streams," said CRWA Executive Director Robert Zimmerman, announcing the project today at the association's new headquarters in Waltham. "Our theory is that it may be less expensive to recharge clean rainwater to the ground rather than to remove more pollutants from their waste streams.  The river will benefit by capturing rainwater and putting it in the ground, enhancing river “base” flows while reducing polluted stormwater runoff.  It’s potentially a two for one exchange.  The project is the first of its kind in the country and will be a challenge to implement. The key is having a cap and trade pollution-trading program in place.” 

Announced last month by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, the agency's new Water Quality Trading Policy is designed to give federal, state and local regulators more flexibility to maintain and improve the nation's waters in less costly ways.

"This policy recognizes that the most effective and economical way to reduce pollution is to provide incentives to encourage actions by those who can achieve reductions easily and cost effectively," said David Batchelor of EPA. "The result will be cleaner water, at less cost, and in less time. It provides the flexibility need to meet local challenges while demanding accountability to ensure that water does improve."

Water quality trading uses economic incentives to improve water quality.  It allows one source to meet its regulatory obligations by using pollutant reduction actions created by another source that has lower pollution control costs.

In order for a water quality trade to take place, a pollution reduction "credit" must first be created. For example, landowners or farmers could create credits by changing cropping practices and planting shrubs and trees next to a stream. A municipal wastewater treatment plant could then use these credits to meet water quality limits in its discharge permit.

In the case of the Charles River, CRWA is interested in substantially boosting in-stream flows in the Upper Charles River in exchange for additional controls on a discharger’s waste stream.  CRWA is also interested in exploring regulatory links between state water withdrawal and development permits and federal wastewater treatment permits that create incentives to repair the rainwater-to-groundwater connection. The pavement and constructed land surfaces associate with road, subdivision, and industrial development make it impossible for rain to penetrate the ground.  These “impervious surfaces” are creating polluted stormwater runoff and flooding, while depleting the aquifers we depend on for drinking water. CRWA’s flow-trading project is a method to begin to redress these problems. 

"Lower in-stream flows in the Charles River reflect that far too much rainwater is being lost to storm drains as opposed to going back into the ground where it should be," Zimmerman said.

In the first pilot project of its kind in the nation, the town of Bellingham is encouraging homeowners to install CRWA’s SmartStorm system, a high tech cistern/drywell system that traps roof rainwater runoff.  “The average home dumps between 50,000 and 60,000 gallons of rain off the roof each year,” Zimmerman said. “By capturing the water and reusing it for watering the lawn or washing the car, or recharging it to the ground, the water will remain in the watershed as groundwater and, if done on a substantially larger scale, replenish the river.  We would also sustain our drinking water supplies.”