Mission | Background | Christina Basin Facts | Watershed Governance | Existing Uses | Innovative Watershed Financing | Water Quality Trading | The Partnership | Implementation | Reports
Establish a formal Christina Basin water quality–trading bank, whereby stakeholders may fund upstream improvements. Wilmington is participating with upstream farms in Chester County as part of its source-water program. Governments may choose to fund improvements in other portions of the watershed in lieu of spending less cost-effective funds on projects within the town.
The National Academy of Sciences recently released a report that recommended that the USEPA base stormwater-discharge and wastewater permits on watershed boundaries instead of political boundaries. The revised watershed-based permitting structure includes market-based trading of credits among stormwater dischargers to achieve compliance. A pilot program is recommended that will allow the USEPA to work through the watershed-based permitting approach. WRA recommends that the Christina Basin Clean Water Partnership become the USEPA pilot program for watershed-based stormwater permitting.