Tradeoffs among Ecosystem Services, Performance Certainty, and Cost-efficiency in Implementation of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load

Abstract

The cost-effectiveness of total maximum daily load (TMDL) programs depends heavily on program design. We develop an optimization framework to evaluate design choices for the TMDL for the Potomac River, a Chesapeake Bay sub-basin. Scenario results suggest that policies inhibiting nutrient trading or offsets between point and nonpoint sources increase compliance costs markedly and reduce ecosystem service co-benefits relative to a least-cost solution. Key decision tradeoffs highlighted by the analysis include whether agricultural production should be exchanged for low-cost pollution abatement and other environmental benefits and whether lower compliance costs and higher co-benefits provide adequate compensation for lower certainty of water-quality outcomes.

LUMINATE: linking agricultural land use, local water quality and Gulf of Mexico hypoxia

“…Wainger et al (2013) report a cost of $76.6 per ha ($32 per acre). Additionally, the Iowa Nutrient Strategy (IDALS, 2013) estimates a cost range $71.6 to $80.3 per ha ($29 to $32.5 per acre).…”

“…delivery coefficients (e.g. Wainger et al, 2013) or point systems (Rabotyagov, Valcu and Kling, 2013). The ultimate goal of these studies is to identify the cost-effective land use changes and to design the optimal economic incentives to reduce the runoff in the landscapes dominated by agriculture.…”

“…Future integration with large-scale models of farmer behaviour, future climate scenarios and incorporation of other ecosystem service values (e.g. Wainger et al, 2013) and terrestrial and marine models will be pursued. The systems which could be studied using integrated models of this sort are quite diverse in terms of their natural, economic and institutional characteristics, which promises plenty of opportunity for productive research by agricultural and resource economists.…”

Revised Method and Outcomes for Estimating Soil Phosphorus Losses from Agricultural Land in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model

“…The Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load created a 2025 implementation deadline for installing practices to reduce nutrient and sediment loads, including a 24% reduction in P loading (USEPA, 2010b). Reductions in agricultural nonpoint sources of P have been reported to be the most cost‐effective option to achieve required reductions in P loading (USEPA, 2010a, Wainger et al, 2013). …”

Human responses to Florida red tides: Policy awareness and adherence to local fertilizer ordinances

“…implemented, leading to trade in pollution permits or load reduction credits, public financing of 258 infrastructure, the imposition of pollution taxes, and so on (Wainger et al 2013). Importantly, 259…”