Reduction of nutrient impairments to our nation’s waters is a top priority for states and interstates. ACWA has a long history of working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies such as U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geologic Society on strategies to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to waterbodies. Reductions in nutrient pollution are being achieved via a rich mosaic of approaches that vary by state, pollutant of concern, sources, and collaborators.

Our workshops and committees:

• Encourage greater collaboration regarding nutrient-related issues among EPA and state and interstate agencies by facilitating dialogue through webinars, conference calls, and meetings.
• Partner with stakeholders such as agricultural groups and wastewater treatment facilities to find common group in reaching nutrient pollution reduction goals.
• Focus on discrete nutrient-related projects, tasks, and issues through the Nutrients Working Group, a collaboration between ACWA, ASDWA, NASDA, and EPA.
• Provide guidance, advice, and assistance to state and interstate agencies seeking to develop water quality trading program.
• Promote the usage of the Water Quality Trading Toolkit templates while seeking to stay current on developments in water quality trading programs throughout the nation.

Nutrients Reduction Progress Tracker

The Nutrients Working Group (“NWG”), a collaboration between ACWA, ASDWA, NASDA, and EPA, began work in 2014 to identify a set of measures that demonstrated progress toward nutrient reduction in the nation’s waters. After surveying the ACWA membership and paring down metrics, in September 2017 the NWG released the Nutrients Reduction Progress Tracker 1.0 to states.  ACWA released a report on the results in March 2018.

In September 2019, ACWA released the Nutrient Reduction Progress Tracker 2.0 – 2019 to states.  The Tracker 2.0 follows the 2017 version, seeking to both track state progress on nutrients pollution reduction efforts since 2017 and also seek more detail on state programs.

Learn more.

Water Quality Trading

Willamette Partnership and the Association of Clean Water Administrators (“ACWA”) developed the Water Quality Trading Toolkit (“Toolkit”) templates to provide a blueprint for those states/organizations seeking to create a water quality trading program.

The Toolkit consists of five templates meant to work in concert with each other: state guidance, watershed framework, state rule, NPDES permit, and program annual report.

Learn more.

ACWA is currently compiling water quality trading case studies from states and organizations.  To view the case studies, go here.