There is a uniform rate nationwide whatever the quality objective or diluting capacity of receiving waters (OECD, 2008c). Under the principle of compensation recognised under Korean law, revenues collected from downstream beneficiaries are used to compensate upstream residents for losses due to land use regulation, an important step towards truly integrated water and land management at the river basin level. In the EU and the United States, farmers are paid for a variety of environmental stewardship measures, including reducing nitrate contamination. While these have been primarily funded through public budget allocation - implicitly recognising society as a whole as a beneficiary - it is possible to design alternative funding mechanisms with specific fees or levies on water bills, fees for recreational uses or fisheries and levies on flood plain dwellers, so as to allocate costs more directly to direct beneficiaries.