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-- a _kt75 | reprint _NEW: explore all _kt75 | publications via the news db... and leave your comments here Allowing polluters to buy, sell or trade water-quality credits could significantly reduce pollution in river basins and estuaries faster and at lower cost than requiring the facilities to meet compliance costs on their own, a new Duke University-led study finds. The scale and type of the trading programs, though critical, may matter less than just getting them started. "Our analysis shows that water-quality trading of any kind can significantly lower the costs of achieving Clean Water Act goals," said Martin W. Doyle, professor of river science and policy at Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment. "All other things being equal, regulators should allow trading to occur at the river basin scale as an appropriate first step. Larger spatial scales may be needed later if abatement costs increase," said Doyle, who also serves as director of the water pol...

-- a note from kt75 In the past a number of articles addressed the issue of water shortages especially in Mid-East [ 1 ]- [ 4 ]. Focus in this region is on the Jordan valley and in particular on the so-called Disi-Aquifer [ 5 ], [ 6 ]. Accordingly, and despite the fact that the Disi-Aquifer constitutes an almost non-renewable water resource (fossil water) the exploitation seems to have started seriously [ 5 ], [ 7 ]. This obviously also due to social pressure (refugees from Syria) [ 8 ], [ 9 ]. All this affects the water supply conditions in the Mid-East region adversely [ 10 ]-[ 12 ] and represents a huge challenge in terms of political and economic decision making [ 13 ], [ 14 ]. Most importantly is certainly the insight that fossil water resources represent non-renewable water sources. They may help facilitate safe water supply for a short time but (due to almost nonexistent replenishment) may not be considered as durable long-term water supply alternative. Further readings: [ 1 ],...