Abstract
The increasing integration of economic issues into environmental policy has put the valuation of environmental goods and services at the forefront of the agenda of experts and researchers involved in the design and implementation of this policy. In the case of water, the European Union Water Framework Directive clearly indicates the need to consider environmental and resource costs in designing water pricing policies that better account for the environmental objectives of the Directive. And the assessment of environmental and resource costs is also referred to in the context of the definition of alternative environmental objectives in cases where costs of reaching the Directive's objectives are considered disproportionate or for allowing the development of new sustainable economic activities. The paper presents the application of contingent valuation to assess the environmental costs that originate from groundwater (nitrates and pesticides) pollution in the Krško kotlina aquifer. Average willingness-to-pay values for groundwater quality improvements to stabilize groundwater quality below drinking water standards or to reduce pollution close to natural background concentrations are equal to 4,7 € and 4,8 € per household per month, respectively. The location where respondents live, their income level or their appurtenance or not to an environmental organization are independent variables that influence respondents' willingness to pay. The relatively low overall statistical significance of the regressions obtained stresses that only part of the variability of respondents' responses can be explained with the information obtained and variables considered. This is however in line with similar studies undertaken in other parts of Europe and elsewhere. Overall, the paper demonstrates that contingent valuation is possible under Slovenian conditions. In addition to providing estimate of values of environmental costs and benefits, such contingent valuation surveys would contribute to raising people's awareness on water protection and on significant water management issues faced in Slovenia. Finally, the paper suggests continuing to test and develop different valuation methods in Slovenia for other water types (e.g. surface water) as part of the support to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.
Highlights
Comprehension of sustainable groundwater resources management in the past was strongly characterized by the uncertainties that turned it to hardly understandable category to decision makers and land users
For experts involved in the management of water resources and implementation of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD), and for policy makers, the increasing integration of economics into water policies has led to new challenges – be it in terms of processes and actors involved or in terms of methods and tools to be applied
The results obtained from the contingent valuation survey undertaken for the Kr{ko kotlina aquifer (East of Slovenia) illustrates people’s willingness to pay for groundwater improvements
Summary
Comprehension of sustainable groundwater resources management in the past was strongly characterized by the uncertainties that turned it to hardly understandable category to decision makers and land users. The second problem from the past policies was reaching effectiveness of protection measures and spatial planning on vulnerable groundwater resources areas Both these problems are still remaining, as it appears in high portion, resulting from lack of awareness of the existing pressures/impacts and use/non-use value of water. For experts involved in the management of water resources and implementation of the EU WFD, and for policy makers, the increasing integration of economics into water policies has led to new challenges – be it in terms of processes and actors involved or in terms of methods and tools to be applied. It poses the question of the value of environmental goods and the possibility to estimate a monetary value for these goods (e.g. improvements in water quality) for which there is often no market and price
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