The Value of Water Quality for Coastal Recreation in New England, USA

Abstract

Water recreation is valuable to people and its value can be affected by changes in water quality. This paper presents the results of a primary data collection effort using a revealed preference survey to elicit coastal New England, USA residents’ values for water recreation and water quality. We combined the survey responses with a comprehensive dataset of coastal attributes, including in-water and remotely sensed water quality metrics for the coast of New England. The results provide an updated willingness-to-pay for a coastal recreation trip of $26-$28 (USD). Using a travel cost model framework, we found water clarity and the bacterial conditions of coastal waters to be practical water quality inputs to economic analysis, available at appropriate scales and meaningful to people and their behavior. Changes in clarity and bacterial conditions affected trip values, with a $4-$5 change for a meter in clarity and $0.13 for a one-unit change, respectively. We demonstrate their utility and the large potential value of improving water quality through welfare analysis scenarios for Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. The paper discusses generalizable lessons for improving the policy relevance and applicability of water quality valuation studies in the U.S. and worldwide through improved water quality data collection and aggregation combined with application of scalable analysis tools for valuation.

Social cost-benefit analysis of the improving of urban recreation facilities: The case of Iskenderun-Arsuz-Payas urban area

“…For future studies that use the NPV, we suggest that interviewees give real, verifiable monetary values and pick a value based on the WTP, just like in similar studies. [8,10,13,27,30,31].…”

“…Studies covering a wide range of topics provide context for our analyses. These include the estimation of economic value within the context of recreational planning in national parks [8,9], the estimation of the value of revitalization and preservation of urban parks used for recreation and sport [10,11], the estimation of the value of improving the quality of various attributes in beaches [12] and other coastal recreational areas [13,14], and economic analysis to support marine spatial planning [14,15].…”

“…In order to measure the hypothetical changes in recreational activities or the quality of a specific site, resource economists have generally used the net present value (NPV) [10,13,14,16], which is a…”