A possible way to turn stormwater runoff into a commodity rather than a problem was unveiled during the Virginia Rural Coastal Economic Summit held last Friday at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Del. Keith Hodges (R-Urbanna), who organized the summit, shared the concept of a credit trading program for dirty water that he and Lewie Lawrence, executor director of the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, brainstormed together.

Details about any project that might arise from the concept are scarce, but Hodges said it was just an example of several dozen ideas that he and Lawrence had come up with. Such a program has been made possible by the creation of the Rural Coastal Virginia Community Enhancement Authority, which Hodges conceived of, wrote into Virginia HB 2055, and shepherded through the General Assembly and into law.

Lawrence discussed the concept in the context of problems and possibilities in Mathews County, which he and others have identified as the epicent...