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Water quality trading is gaining traction in a number of watersheds around the world. It is a market-based approach that works alongside water quality regulation to improve water quality. In 2008, the State of Maryland developed its nutrient trading policy to create offset mechanisms for new and expanding nutrient discharges in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Marylands nutrient trading policy allows trades between regulated point sources and agricultural nonpoint sources. In order to facilitate implementation of Marylands nutrient trading program, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) worked with the World Resources Institute (WRI) (which had previously developed NutrientNet) and the Texas Institute for Applied Environmental Research, Tarleton State University (TIAER) (which had developed the national Nutrient Tracking Tool or NTT) to create a unified tool that would: