Environmental Economics for Watershed Restoration

Thurston, Hale W.; Heberling, Matthew T.; Schrecongost, Alyse

doi:10.1201/9781420092639

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Markets do not adequately define economic benefits of improved water quality; therefore, environmental economists have defined nonmarket stated preference and revealed preference methods such as travel cost, hedonic pricing, and contingent valuation (CV; Wilson & Carpenter, 1999; World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2011). The stated preference approach includes the CV method that asks people how much they would be willing to pay for improved water quality for viewing, boating, fishing, and swimming (Emerton & Bos, 2004;Kramer, 2005 andThurston et al, 2009). Revealed preference methods estimate the increased sale or purchase of goods or reduced costs that result from improved water quality and include the market price, productivity, damage cost avoided, travel cost, and hedonic pricing methods.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If a river system is polluted by an upstream industrial discharge, for example, then downstream residents may be harmed by this negative externality because they are not compensated for impaired drinking water quality or reduced boating/fishing activity. A free rider is an individual such as a canoe livery that benefits from a public good such as improved water quality but does not pay to protect or conserve the watershed (Thurston, Heberling, & Schrecongost, 2009). In contrast to land where property is bought and sold in the real estate market, water rights are not as clearly defined, and water flow may be overused with no incentive to conserve it (Libecap, 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Economic benefits of improved water quality in the Delaware River (USA)

Kauffman

2019

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water quality in the Delaware River, USA, has improved significantly since the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1948), Clean Water Act of 1972, and authorization of the Delaware River Basin Commission Compact in 1961. Initial economic analysis by the Federal Water Pollution Administration in 1966 concluded the multimillion dollar pollution abatement programme would generate $350 million in annual benefits by improving dissolved oxygen levels to fishable standards in the Delaware River. Although water quality in the Delaware has improved substantially, scientists have called for raising the 1960s dissolved oxygen criteria from 3.5 mg/L to 5.0 mg/L to ensure year‐round propagation of anadromous American shad and Atlantic sturgeon. This higher level would also mitigate atmospheric warming resulting in increased water temperatures and sea water incursion, both of which would lead to reductions in dissolved oxygen saturation in the river. Additional economic valuation of this water quality improvement shows direct use benefits in the Delaware River to range from $371 million to $1.1 billion per year. Other economic sectors benefiting from improved water quality include recreational boating ($46–$334 million), recreational fishing ($129–$202 million), agriculture ($8–$188 million), nonuse value ($76–$115 million), viewing/boating/fishing ($55–$68 million), bird watching ($15–$33 million), property value ($13–27 million), water supply ($12–$24 million), commercial fishing (up to $17 million), and navigation ($7–$16 million). Future economic research is needed in the Delaware River watershed to more precisely measure nonuse benefits by public willingness to pay for improved water quality.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%