Trading and Offsets Workgroup

Meetings

About

The charge of the Trading and Offsets Workgroup (TOWG) is to focus and support the implementation of practices, policies, and programs within the realm of nutrient and sediment trading and offsets that will assist efforts to restore water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. The Workgroup recognizes that trading and offsets may be valuable tools in achieving allocations set forth in the 2010 Chesapeake Bay TMDL, and water quality in general. The Workgroup reports to the Water Quality Goal Implementation Team.
Functions include:

• Provide a forum for discussion, consensus building and exchange of information among federal, state, and local agencies, river basin commissions, industry groups, universities, and other interested parties on nutrient and sediment trading efforts.
• Evaluate and facilitate strategies to effectively exchange nutrient, and sediment loads from municipal, industrial and onsite wastewater, agricultural lands and animal operations, urban and suburban stormwater, forested lands, tidal and in-stream sediment, and air emissions.
• Build consensus on common approaches to calculating, verifying, registering and tracking performance of nutrient and sediment trading and offsets.

Projects

Publications