Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Water Quality Trading in Oregon’s Tualatin River

Watershed

Charles Logue, PEDirector, Regulatory Affairs Dept.

Conservation Markets Roundtable – May 5, 2006

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Why is Clean Water Services interested in “markets”

• Pollution control alone is not going to achieve restoration of our watershed

• We are implementing an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach

• We are interested in cost-effective, partnering opportunities to go beyond regulatory mandates

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

2001 Temperature TMDL, Current vs. Allocatedi.e. the “System Potential”

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

05101520253035404550556065707580

River Mile

Stre

am T

empe

ratu

re (o F)

Current Condition

Non-Point Source Allocation and Point Source Wasteload Allocation

Left Bank

Right Bank

Forest Land Agriculture Lands Urban Lands Transportation

Land Use Gaston West Linn

Some Reaches areStratified Between RiverMile 0 and River Mile 27

Temperature differential

Current

WLAWQ Std

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Temperature Reduction Options

• Reduce influent wastewater temperature

• Remove discharge from Tualatin River

• Mechanical Cooling/Refrigeration of discharge

• Trade Heat Load for Flow Augmentation and Increased Shading

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

What Clean Water Services has done to date

• February, 2004 – Watershed-based NPDES permit issued– Allows for WQ trading

• Thermal load – temperature• Oxygen load – biochemical and nitrogenous OD

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Thermal Load WQ Credit Trading

• Thermal Load (kcal/day) from WWTP’s Trade cooling credits of instream flow

augmentation released from Hagg Lake Reservoir

Trade riparian stream surface shading improvements

• Effluent Reuse in lieu of irrigation withdrawals

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Shade Credit Calculation

• Potential Solar Load for a Stream Reach = WidthReach X LengthReach x 480 kcal/ft2/day

• Solar Load shaded= potential solar load X effective shade

Shade Credit = W x L x 480 x % eff. shade

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

How is Clean Water Services Achieving the Riparian Shading?

• Market-value basedUsed stakeholder workgroup to develop program

• Developed an Enhanced CREP program• Increased $ incentives to rural landowners

Leverage of existing Federal and State programs • Incentive payments to Soil & Water

Conservation DistrictActing as agents of Clean Water Services

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Enhanced CREP cost breakdown

• Five-year program cost estimate: $2.2 million

• Clean Water Services share: $820,000 (37%)

• Partners share: $1.38 million (63%)

Note: A mechanical solution (effluent refrigeration) would have cost $50+ million plus $2 million/yr O&M costs

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

In Summary, over the 5-yr term of permit, CWS will…

1. release 30 cfs/d stored water in July and August2. shade roughly 35 miles of tributary riparian area

• Shading requirement is based on a 2:1 trading ratio• To date, have over 9 ½ miles planted

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

What are Clean Water Services interested in doing next

• Supporting the efforts to expand WQ trading activities to other watersheds

• Supporting the development and expansion of conservation markets in Oregon

• Supporting the concept of collaborative conservation

• Breaking down the institutional barriers that currently is impeding progress

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

The “key” watershed messages..

Think outside the conventional regulatory framework

Look for “non-traditional” partnership opportunities

Spend the resources where they do the greatest good

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

Questions I have

• What is the best approach to get the resource agencies in alignment with this approach?

• What is the best approach to limit the 3rd party litigation under the CWA when undertaking innovative approaches?

• What is the best approach to minimize the political parochial behaviors?

Wherever there’s water, there’s Clean Water..

QUESTIONS ???QUESTIONS ???

Charles LogueCharles Logue503-681-3604503-681-3604

loguec@cleanwaterservices.orgwww.cleanwaterservices.orgwww.cleanwaterservices.org