Setting Permit Prices in a Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) System for Water Quality Management

The composite market design is a proposal for a Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) system which specifically includes agricultural non-point source (NPS) dischargers and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The first step to implementation of a composite market scheme is the estimation of a supply curve for abatement measures in the catchment area. Estimation is performed by combining costs with modeled loss reductions from selected Best Management Practices (BMPs) and then using this information to estimate the supply curve for abatement which in turn can then be used to set permit prices. The Ronnea catchment in southern Sweden is used as a pilot study area for making this type of estimate. Costs for existing measures that reduce nutrient losses from farmland (catch crops and spring planting) are based on existing programs financed by the Swedish Agricultural Board. A set of supply curves is calculated for these measures using retention estimates for seven sub-catchments and three soil types in the area. Although existing information is sufficient to calculate partial supply curves and may be used to set permit prices, additional measures should be included as well as an increased number of variables for differentiating site specific reduction costs.tradable permits, catchment management, NPS, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q25,

Policies and tools for catchment management of water resources : field management, tradable permits and stakeholder participation

This dissertation is a set of related articles. The five articles deal with alternative tools and policies for adressing water quality management. The focus of the dissertation is on management decisions of three groups at the catchment level: farmers, other stakeholders and catchment authorities. The first two articles adress how field management decisions are made by farmers. The first of these two articles presents a linear cost method for calculating the economic impact of adopting particular 'best management practices' (BMPs) on individual fields. The second article describes how decision heuristics may be used by farmers for making management choices within a framework of bounded rationality. This article presents a decision support system (DSS) that has been developed for evaluation of best management practices (BMPs). The model presented here, called LENNART, is a net-based interactive data base that combines a natural science model, SOILNDB, with the linear cost method developed in the first article for the evaluation of BMPs. The model works with heuristics to support BMP implementation decisions by farmers. The second two articles take up the application of tradable discharge permit (TDP) policy to reduce nutrient losses from farmland from non-point sources (NPS) of pollution. The first of these two articles is reactive. This article surveys the status of discharge trading programs and concludes that the lack of success of these programs is due to design problems, specifically the lack of well-defined property rights to the discharges. The second article is proactive and describes how a composite market system for TDP may be designed to fulfill its primary purpose, the cost effective abatement of nutrient discharges. The fifth article describes a method for structuring stakeholder participation in the management of water resources at the catchment level. The model described in this article, CATCH, builds on the use of the principles of discourse and deliberation to define sets of socio-economic parameters for the evaluation of management plans

Stakeholders' Perspectives on Microplastics in Sludge Applied to Agricultural Land

Microplastic (MPs) inputs to agricultural lands from wastewater and sewage sludge reuse in Europe have been estimated to be between 65,000 and 230,000 tons/year making the farm environment one of the major receptors and, possibly, environmental reservoirs of MPs. In Sweden there have been ongoing discussions since 1994 about environmental and health effects of sewage sludge application to agricultural lands. This debate on sludge use focused initially on metals, then moved on to pharmaceutical residues and currently has turned to MPs. In spite of the limited scientific information about environmental impacts of MPs in soils, governmental approval in Sweden to allow increased spreading of sludge on productive agricultural lands is moving forward. To study individual perceptions of the potential risks, interviews were conducted in 2020 with Swedish stakeholders who in some way work with the issue of sludge management. The results of these interviews provide an indication of not only how environmental risk information is interpreted by representatives from different sectors but also the degree to which perceived risks may shape environmental policy

Cost effectiveness of nutrient retention in constructed wetlands at a landscape level

Since 1990, over 13 000 ha of constructed wetlands (CWs) have been implemented to increase biodiversity and reduce nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loads to Swedish waters. Despite the considerable number of CWs and ambitious investments planned for the coming three years, there is limited follow up of cost-efficiency of catchment- and landscape-scale nutrient retention by existing CWs. Such follow up evaluation could provide clear guidance regarding optimal size and location of future CWs. We present a three-step modelling approach to assess cost-efficiency of 233 CWs in two Swedish regions (East, 4321 km2, and West, 916 km2). Modelled nutrient retention in CWs was predominantly low, especially in the East, due to their suboptimal location in catchments, e.g., with inadequate upstream areas (low hydraulic loads) and/or low share of arable land (low nutrient loads). Suboptimal location of CWs generates both higher than necessary costs and low area-specific nutrient retention, leading to low cost-efficiency. Some high cost-efficiency CWs were identified, especially for N retention in the West. To increase their cost-efficiency, continued investments in CWs require clear guidance and instructions. To achieve optimal placement, both CW site and size in relation to incoming hydraulic and nutrient loads must be considered

Land Policy for Flood Risk Management-Toward a New Working Paradigm

Flood risk management (FRM) aims to integrate necessary technical measures with environmental and societal approaches. Focusing on the process and governance of how to plan, implement, and maintain solutions therefore becomes essential. Among the different stakeholders, landowners are a key group to be considered. This contribution elaborates on the interconnections between land policy, FRM and private land ownership. It is based on the European COST Action network LAND4FLOOD, which brings together academics and stakeholders from various disciplines and more than 35 countries. We argue for a less project oriented and more process oriented approach, a focus on land management and more emphasis on small-scale measures. This represents a break with some of the recent working paradigms of FRM

Utan spaning ingen aning

Sedan 1990-talet har svenska staten gett medel för olika åtgärder som ska minska övergödningen av våra vatten. Trots 30 års åtgärdsarbete är kunskaperna bristfälliga om vissa åtgärders effekt, särskilt på lång sikt och under varierande förhållanden, då tillförlitliga mätningar endast skett på några fåtal platser under kort tid. Om åtgärderna utformas och placeras fel blir de ineffektiva och likaså användningen av stödmedlen

Åtgärdsscenarier för minskat näringsläckage från åkermark : beräkningar för ett urval av delavinningsområden inom LEVA-områden

För att effektivisera arbetet mot övergödning behöver åtgärder genomföras där behovet av förbättring är som störst och där åtgärder har störst potential att ge god effekt. En metod för att identifiera dessa områden och beräkna effekt och kostnadseffektivitet för ett antal åtgärder mot näringsförluster från åkermark har här tagits fram på uppdrag av Havs- och vattenmyndigheten. Metoden testades inom tre områden inom pilotprojektet LEVA, Lokalt engagemang för vatten och genom samråd med de lokala åtgärdssamordnarna i dessa tre områden samt LEVA projektledningsgrupp. Två olika scenarier för åtgärder beräknades, ett med maximal omfattning vilket bland annat innebar att all stallgödsling togs bort, samt ett med riktade åtgärder i befintligt produktionssystem. I scenarierna ingick åtgärder i odlingssystemet, strukturkalkning samt fosfordammar. Målsättningen i scenarierna var att nå god ekologisk status vilket innebar att sänka fosforförlusterna. De valda åtgärderna i scenarierna har därför främst effekt mot fosforförluster men som komplement har även åtgärder mot kväveförluster beräknats eftersom kväve liksom fosfor bidrar till övergödning. Åtgärderna i odlingssystemet samt stukturkalkning beräknades med Typhaltskalkylatorn, en matris med utlakningskoefficienter för olika kombinationer av klimat, jordart, gröda och brukningssystem. Typhaltskalkylatorn baseras på NLeCCS-metoden som används för beräkning av läckage från svensk åkermark. Inom detta projekt har Typhaltskalkylatorn vidareutvecklats för att kunna beskriva läckaget från fler kombinationer av odlingssystem och för strukturkalkning. För lokalisering av fosfordammar användes ett nyutvecklat system för bedömning av optimal placering som utgår från samband mellan hydraulisk belastning och näringshalter och där data från NLeCCS-metoden eller som i detta projekt från Typhaltskalkylatorn användes för att bedöma flöden av vatten och näringsämnen i åkerlandskapet. Resultaten av scenarierna visade att minskningen av fosforförlusterna skulle kunna vara ca 30 % om åtgärderna utnyttjades maximalt. De riktade åtgärderna gav nästan lika stor effekt som den maximala omfattningen av åtgärderna. Kostnader per kg reducerat P var lägre i scenariot med riktade åtgärder och fosfordamm jämfört med åtgärder på samtliga jordar och fosfordamm. För att identifiera lämpliga områden för storskalig strukturkalkning beräknades potentiell effekt av strukturkalkning för samtliga LEVA-områden. Effekten av strukturkalkning beror av många faktorer och kunskapen om flera av dem är begränsad. I beräkningarna redovisas därför endast den relativa effekten mellan delavrinningsområden. Störst potential för god effekt av strukturkalkning hade delavrinningsområden i LEVA-område Sagån men även LEVA Örsundaån och Enköpingsån hade god potential i ett flertal delavrinningsområden. För att kunna följa upp effekten av strukturkalkning i områden där strukturkalkning planeras togs det också fram ett förslag på uppföljningsprogram. Metoden som togs fram och användes i detta projekt visar hur potentialen för att genomföra en viss åtgärd beror av både vilken areal som finns tillgänglig och är lämplig för åtgärden men också hur effekten av den enskilda åtgärden minskar när flera åtgärder kombineras. Typhaltskalkylatorn kan även användas som ett lokalt rådgivningsverktyg för att värdera effekten av olika åtgärder på den enskilda gården. Däremot lämpar den sig inte för att bestämma gårdens utlakningsnivåer, då ingångsdata om de lokala förutsättningarna inte finns i tillräckligt hög geografisk upplösning

Tradeoffs and synergies in wetland multifunctionality: A scaling issue

Wetland area in agricultural landscapes has been heavily reduced to gain land for crop production, but in recent years there is increased societal recognition of the negative consequences from wetland loss on nutrient retention, biodiversity and a range of other benefits to humans. The current trend is therefore to re-establish wetlands, often with an aim to achieve the simultaneous delivery of multiple ecosystem services, i.e., multifunctionality. Here we review the literature on key objectives used to motivate wetland re-establishment in temperate agricultural landscapes (provision of flow regulation, nutrient retention, climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and cultural ecosystem services), and their relationships to environmental properties, in order to identify potential for tradeoffs and synergies concerning the development of multifunctional wetlands. Through this process, we find that there is a need for a change in scale from a focus on single wetlands to wetlandscapes (multiple neighboring wetlands including their catchments and surrounding landscape features) if multiple societal and environmental goals are to be achieved. Finally, we discuss the key factors to be considered when planning for re-establishment of wetlands that can support achievement of a wide range of objectives at the landscape scale

Setting Permit Prices in a Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) System for Water Quality Management

The composite market design is a proposal for a Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) system which specifically includes agricultural non-point source (NPS) dischargers and addresses both property rights and transaction cost problems. The first step to implementation of a composite market scheme is the estimation of a supply curve for abatement measures in the catchment area. Estimation is performed by combining costs with modeled loss reductions from selected Best Management Practices (BMPs) and then using this information to estimate the supply curve for abatement which in turn can then be used to set permit prices. The Ronnea catchment in southern Sweden is used as a pilot study area for making this type of estimate. Costs for existing measures that reduce nutrient losses from farmland (catch crops and spring planting) are based on existing programs financed by the Swedish Agricultural Board. A set of supply curves is calculated for these measures using retention estimates for seven sub-catchments and three soil types in the area. Although existing information is sufficient to calculate partial supply curves and may be used to set permit prices, additional measures should be included as well as an increased number of variables for differentiating site specific reduction costs