Determinants of people's willingness to pay to restore polluted urban rivers: The case of River Kebena, Addis Ababa

Abstract

River and groundwater pollution is one of the environmental problems in Ethiopia. Although the rivers in Addis Ababa had benefited the community, for the past three decades, pollutants generated from different anthropogenic sources have been causing enormous damage to the quality of the water, aquatic living organisms, and the river ecosystem goods and services. This study examines people's maximum willingness to pay and its determinants to restore the polluted river. Thus, we applied a face-to-face interview with residents living along the riversides at Yeka and Arada sub-cities with a structured questionnaire. Seemingly Unrelated Bivariate Probit and Tobit models were employed to estimate the mean willingness to pay and determinants of the maximum willingness to pay. Although findings reveal all respondents are willing to restore the polluted Kebena River, the maximum willingness to pay varies according to the respondents' education, family size, monthly income, and the initial bid. Hence, the relevant city administration should emphasize scale-out and implement the riverside projects considering the findings. Besides, priority should give to environmental awareness pertinent to waste disposal from residential, service sectors, and public institutions. The meager urban planning and riverside management should be revised to protect urban rivers. So, the community involvement in river restoration is substantial to sustain the campaign of riversides development in the city.