The Role of Tradable Permits in Water Pollution Control

This paper was prepared as a conceptual framework to stimulate discussions on the role and applicability of tradable permits in water pollution control among participants of the Technical Seminar on the Feasibility of the Application of Tradable Water Permits for Water Management in Chile (13-14 November 2003 in Santiago de Chile). In Chile, water pollution is a major problem. Until recently, existing regulations to control water pollution consisted mainly of non-market based instruments. Innovative instruments are now being explored via a recent national law for tradable emission/discharge permits. The instrument of tradable discharge permits is one of several market-based instruments used in water management and pollution control. Tradable discharge permits are actually among the most challenging market-based instruments in terms of both their design and implementation. Experience to date with tradable discharge permits for water pollution control has been limited and mainly comes from several regions of the US and Australia. The paper at first introduces tradable permits as part of an overall taxonomy of economic instruments in the field of water management. In this context, three fundamentally different fields of application of tradable permits systems relating to water are presented: tradable water abstraction rights, tradable rights to water-based resources and tradable water pollution rights. The remaining of the paper deals exclusively with the latter category, i.e. tradable water pollution rights, their role and applicability in water pollution control

Using Regulation to Tackle the Challenge of Diffuse Water Pollution and its Impact on the Great Barrier Reef

Diffuse water pollution poses a significant threat to water quality globally. Challenges associated with managing and regulating diffuse water pollution stem from difficulties in measurement and attribution of pollution ‘emissions’, as well as the cumulative nature of diffuse water pollution. The introduction of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef Protection Amendment Act 2009 provides a timely opportunity to explore challenges associated with managing and regulating diffuse water pollution from agriculture, using the Great Barrier Reef as a case study. This article, which is presented in two parts (sections II and III), outlines the nature of diffuse water pollution; potential management and regulatory options; and existing policy, management and legislative frameworks that exist at Commonwealth and Queensland State government levels relevant to managing Great Barrier Reef water quality. In section III, the article undertakes a detailed analysis of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef Protection Amendment Act 2009, including an assessment of the likely effectiveness of this legislation; challenges associated with the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of measures taken under this new legislation; and its significance and role in the context of other relevant Commonwealth and Queensland government responsibilities, legislation and policies

Pollution charges, community pressure, and abatement cost of industrial pollution in China

The author evaluates the strength of the effect that community pressure and pollution charges have on industrial pollution control in China, and estimates the marginal cost of pollution abatement. He examines a well-documented set of plant-level data, combined with community-level data, to assess the impact of pollution charges and community pressure on industrial behavior in China. He constructs and estimates an industrial organic water pollution discharge model for plants that violate standards for pollution discharge, pay pollution charges, and are constantly under community pressure to further abate pollution. He creates a model and estimates implicit prices for pollutiondischarges from community pressure, which are determined jointly by the explicit price, the pollution levy. He finds that the implicit discharge price is at least as high as the explicit price. In other words, community pressure not only exists, but may be as strong an incentive as the pollution charge is for industrial firms to control pollution in China. The author's modeling approach also provides a way to estimate the marginal cost of pollution abatement. The empirical results show that the current marginal cost of abatement is about twice the effective charge rate in China.Pollution Management&Control,Water and Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water Conservation,Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water Conservation,Pollution Management&Control,Water Resources Assessment,Water and Industry

Water Pollution Prevention and Conservation

This lesson plan is designed to help students apply the pollution prevention (P2) concept to water. It contains the needed background information about water pollution and provides guidance and activities to help students describe water uses and sources, explain why water conservation is important, and explain how pollution prevention concepts can be used to conserve water and prevent water pollution. The preceding pages of the fact sheet contain background information and the definitions necessary to implement this lesson plan. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Identify and Report Water Pollution: An Interpretive Guide to Surface Water Conditions of the New Hampshire Coastal Watershed, 2nd edition

This gude was designed to help people who work or recreate outdoors to interpret surface water conditions so that they would recognize a pollution incident and know how to report it. The guide also suggests actions that communities can take to prevent water pollution and protect vital water resources. Finally, the guide includes helpful, relevant resources that will further explain particular surface water conditions

Combined air and water pollution control system

A bioaquatic air pollution control system for controlling both water and atmospheric pollution is disclosed. The pollution control system includes an exhaust for directing polluted gases out of a furnace and a fluid circulating system which circulates fluid, such as waste water, from a source, past the furnace where the fluid flow entrains the pollutants from the furnace. The combined fluid and pollutants are then directed through a rock/plant/microbial filtering system. A suction pump pumps the treated waste water from the filter system past the exhaust to again entrain more pollutants from the furnace where they are combined with the fluid (waste water) and directed to the filter system