How can costs for water quality projects be distributed between polluters and beneficiaries?

Key Question Categor(ies):Integration across Sectors, Urban Water Systems and Water Treatment"Integration across Sectors, Urban Water Systems and Water Treatment" is not in the list of possible values (Balancing Industries and Sectors, Influence, Leadership and Power, Desalination, Hydropower - Dams - Infrastructure, Transboundary Water Issues, Integration across Sectors, Power and Politics, Technological Innovation, Urban Water Systems and Water Treatment) for this property.

From: Integration of a Basin-Wide Framework for Protecting Danube Water Quality

The degree of cooperation among representatives of participating governments, and the importance given to public participation in developing the SAP, mark significant achievements in promoting regional cooperation in water resources management. Ultimately, the success of this process will be revealed by the degree to which the goals, strategies, and targets set in the agreement are implemented "on the ground." It is one thing to agree to goals and targets in timeframes; it is another thing to, for example, agree to shut down a polluting factory, or to create and enforce industrial wastewater pretreatment standards, or to develop rigorous monitoring and enforcement regimes. Additionally, because agreement signatories are at the Ministerial level in the water sector (vs. at the level of the Foreign Minister), it is not clear if the agreement has the force of an international treaty behind it.

From: Water Quality Control of the South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) Middle Route Project (MRP)

A Payment for Water Quality Services (PWQS) scheme could provide a method for investigating ways that the Water Source Area and Water Receiving Area might share the costs associated with the project.