Point/Non-Point Discharge Options To Control Watershed Pollution

摘要

Can an industry expand and the environmental outcome be a reduction in pollution? Officials from at least one major industrial site near Minneapolis are investing on just that. Watershed minded regulators, cost-conscious company owners and environmental consultants combined forces to create a water pollution trading program that allows Rahr Malting Co. of Shakopee. Minn., to "trade" limits on the wastewater it discharges into the Minnesota River in exchange for helping control non-point source pollution upstream. An integrated resource management approach - looking at the inputs to the river and managing water quality from each source - is the philosophy behind this point/non-point permit. The Environmental Protection Agency's Effluent Trading in Watersheds Policy Statement (February 1996) and Framework (June 1996) combined with Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Pollutant Trading For Water Quality Improvement Policy Evaluation (DRAFT December 1995) were the impetus to get the permit process in motion. This trading process helps solve two key problems: the need for a major industrial facility to remain competitive, and sustaining a major watershed effort to reduce excessive contaminants. By trading the amount of pollution entering the river from the plant for a greater amount of pollution reduced upstream, the program provides a win-win scenario for industry, landowners and municipalities.