Project Background
With a watershed of more than 1,000 square miles, Lake Lanier is a vitally important reservoir, which is located in the headwaters region of the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola-Flint (ACF) basin. The lake supplies water for a variety of purposes, including drinking water for 40% of all Georgians, a recreation industry comprised with more than 7 million annual visitors, hydropower for 25,000 homes, as well as agriculture, industry and wildlife. As the area’s population continues to increase and new development covers more and more of northeast Georgia, the lake must have enough clean water to sustain the communities that depend on it.

For fifteen years, Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) banned new wastewater treatment plant discharges into Lake Lanier. However, in 1999, when Gwinnett County applied for a permit to discharge an additional 40 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into Lake Lanier, EPD proposed to change its policy and allow new discharges, based on the condition that increased pollutant loadings from the new discharges would be offset by a reduction in pollutant loadings elsewhere in the lake.

According to the state, these reductions could be achieved by upgrading existing wastewater treatment plants or by reducing the pollutant loadings contributed by non-point sources such as agriculture, urban stormwater runoff or construction activities. This concept, known as “pollution trading”, was presented by EPD as a way to protect the lake’s current water quality status while supporting additional growth in the watershed.

UCR and many others voiced their concerns about implementing a nutrient trading policy without having the appropriate science and administrative structure to support such a complex program. EPD agreed to delay the adoption of a trading policy until the necessary information could be obtained and appropriate trading protocols developed. In 2001, UCR secured a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fund the development of a set of policy recommendations to serve as the basis for adopting rules to govern a nutrient trading program in the Lake Lanier Watershed.

Project Summary
The overall project goal was to develop a proposed trading system that would (1) fit into the state’s existing regulatory framework, (2) allow trades to occur in a cost-effective, market-based manner, and (3) incorporate sound environmental protection and legal requirements. To achieve this goal, UCR worked with a nutrient trading consultant from the University of Georgia’s Institute of Ecology to formulate policy recommendations. To avoid duplication of effort, the Lanier Nutrient Trading Policy Initiative (LNTPI) focused on a variety of trading programs already in existence, or currently being formulated, in other states throughout the U. S. Each program was evaluated to determine applicability to Lake Lanier and other similar water bodies throughout Georgia. The successes and failures of these other trading programs served as a basis for formulating a sound nutrient trading strategy for Georgia.

Policy Recommendations
UCR’s final recommendations included provisions for the following:

• appropriate administrative framework,
• water quality monitoring and performance tracking,
• public participation and involvement.

We recommended a model similar to that used by the Cherry Creek Basin Trading Program whereby a nonprofit organization manages the program. In this concept, the state legislature would need to assign management authority and either ensure funding or concede taxing authority for the development and implementation of the trading program.

Monitoring approaches and credits and trading ratios must be based on comprehensive data regarding seasonal variations, flow conditions, and soil types. The additional information generated from comprehensive monitoring provides for a more complete understanding about nutrient dynamics in the watershed and, as a consequence, more effective management and more appropriate assignments of credits and trading ratios. A Geographic Information System (GIS) should be used to manage program information such as area land use and pollutant loadings; permit and trade requirements; and trading ratios and acceptable Best Management Practices (BMPs). A trading registry and interactive maps would add transparency to the program and provide citizens with easy access to information.

Public participation is critical for a nutrient trading program to be successful. The watershed community must be educated to fully understand the concept of trading, the implications of trading one pollution source for another and the role each person plays in creating point/non-point source pollution problems. With increased knowledge, the public will be better equipped to provide meaningful input during the development and implementation of the trading program.

To access the final LNTPI report, click the following link: Lanier Nutrient Trading Policy Initiative. For more information on this project please contact Darcie Holcomb at 770.531.1064