Economic Aspects in the Investigation of Ground-Water Contamination Episodes

Abstract

The paper examines some economic aspects of ground-water pollution, focusing on the exploitation of an aquifer as a source of drinking water. Using the contamination episode at Price Landfill, New Jersey, as a case study, it addresses analytical and information issues which characterize ground-water pollution. Involved here are uncertainties associated with the environmental medium (especially knowledge of solute-transport processes), and health risk assessment (principally dose-response relationships). The field application employed two approaches to the modeling of the physical-chemical processes to derive mortality risk estimates. These estimates in turn form the basis for preliminary assessment of expected damages: reduced longevity, and cost of control and remedial measures. The results are offered as an essential informational input for a benefit-cost analysis of ground-water protection and management policies.