(Alexandria, VA) - The Water Environment Federation (WEF) today welcomed the release of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Water Quality Trading Policy. According to WEF Executive Director, Bill Bertera, "WEF supports many of the provisions in the Policy and believes it is a positive step towards recognizing trading as a tool to achieve water quality improvements. Overall, the Federation strongly supports the concept of trading as an innovative approach to reaching water quality goals."

The purpose of the Policy is to encourage states, interstate agencies, and tribes to develop and implement voluntary water quality trading programs that facilitate implementation of TMDLs, reduce the costs of compliance with Clean Water Act regulations, establish incentives for voluntary reductions, and promote watershed-based initiatives. As a follow-up to EPA's "Framework for Watershed-Based Effluent Trading", the Policy draws upon lessons learned from pilot programs and state experiences developing water quality trading programs conducted since the September 1996 document was released.

WEF supports EPA's water quality trading initiative and endorses trading as a potentially cost-effective, market-incentive method to further local, regional, and national clean water goals. WEF supports EPA's recognition that trading is a voluntary approach that may be used to more efficiently protect and restore water quality and beneficial uses of the nation's waters. Specifically, WEF supports the Policy's emphasis on watersheds and cooperation between point and nonpoint sources. The Federation has long advocated the watershed management approach and the principle that water quality oriented activities across regulatory programs should be combined to form a strong, integrated basis for planning, priority setting, and implementation on a watershed basis. WEF initiated Water Quality 2000, a cooperative effort of over 70 organizations to propose and promote national policies and goals for the 21st century to protect and enhance water quality. As a leader in education and technology transfer, WEF has also worked in conjunction with EPA and other federal agencies to sponsor four national Watershed Management conferences and two national TMDL conferences.

For additional information about water quality trading and other clean water issues, visit the WEF website at www.wef.org. Other sources of information include EPA's website at www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading/, and the Water Environment Research Foundation at www.werf.org.

Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work toward the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 79 Member Associations in 32 countries.