Scientific American covers water quality trading project

Five years ago, The Freshwater Trust began a water quality trading program with the city of Medford, Oregon. This past July, Scientific American covered the innovative program as one of its feature articles.

The city’s wastewater treatment plant faced a problem common for cities nationwide. Upon treating sewage from roughly 200,000 people, the wastewater treatment plant was discharging water into the Rogue River that was clean but warm.

To comply with the Clean Water Act, the city had to offset the impact of its warm water discharge. Instead of building an expensive cooling tower, The Freshwater Trust proposed a natural infrastructue solution: Plant trees to create shade, cooling the water for fish. The Medford, Oregon program has become one of The Freshwater Trust’s flagship examples of water quality trading in action.

Read the full Scientific American story here.