The credit trading system will assign each wastewater treatment plant a water quality standard. Plants can either reduce pollution beyond the level required to create a pollution reduction "credit," which can then be traded, or they can buy credits from others, enabling them to exceed their original limit. The Bush administration claims that this market-based approach, "will help increase the pace and success of cleaning up impaired rivers, streams and lakes throughout the country," according to an EPA press release.

Unlike the "cap and trade" program used to reduce acid rain, the policy will not impose a cap on maximum discharges and will not require reductions in discharges over time; consequently, so long as they have the money to buy the necessary credits, industrial plants can pollute all they want.