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EPA invests in market-based nutrient reduction

The EPA is awarding nearly $2 million in the Great Lakes region to promote water-quality trading and market-based incentives to reduce nutrient run-off.

Region 5 Administrator and Great Lakes National Program Manager Kurt Thiede says the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative investments this year focus on programs where farmers can implement conservation practices to reduce nutrient run-off in exchange for credits.

“They can then sell those credits to places like wastewater treatment plants, developers, or communities that face restrictions on their nutrient discharge.”

Five projects were awarded including nearly $300,000 or more to the Delta Institute in Chicago, Illinois; Great Lakes Commission in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and NEW Water in Green Bay, Wisconsin, nearly $440,000 to the Dairy Research Institute to be used in Wisconsin; and $480,000 to the Conservation Technology Information Center in West Lafayette, Indiana.