Assessing the potential for water quality trading in the Bear River Watershed

The purpose of this thesis is to assess the potential for water quality trading in the Bear River Watershed by following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality trading guidelines. Chapter I of this thesis introduces general issues pertinent to water quality, including regulatory approaches taken by the United States to address water quality issues and water quality concerns in the United States that create the need to examine whether economic incentives can be used to lower pollutant loadings in water bodies while remaining financially feasible. Chapter II discusses the economic theory related to water quality trading and explains the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality trading guidelines. Chapter III attempts to apply the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines to the Cub River Watershed. To highlight the feasibility of trading, Chapter IV presents potential trading scenarios. Chapter V summarizes the results and discusses future research the author considers necessary.