Benefits Of Water Quality Improvements Research Articles

Estimating the benefits of stream water quality improvements in urbanizing watersheds: An ecological production function approach

Streams in urbanizing watersheds are threatened by economic development that can lead to excessive sediment erosion and surface runoff. These anthropogenic stressors diminish valuable ecosystem services and result in pervasive degradation commonly referred to as "urban stream syndrome." Understanding how the public perceives and values improvements in stream conditions is necessary to support efforts to quantify the economic benefits of water quality improvements. We develop an ecological production framework that translates measurable indicators of stream water quality into ecological endpoints. Our interdisciplinary approach integrates a predictive hierarchical water quality model that is well suited for sparse data environments, an expert elicitation that translates measurable water quality indicators into ecological endpoints that focus group participants identified as most relevant, and a stated preference survey that elicits the public's willingness to pay for changes in these endpoints. To illustrate our methods, we develop an application to the Upper Neuse River Watershed located in the rapidly developing Triangle region of North Carolina (the United States). Our results suggest, for example, that residents are willing to pay roughly $127 per household and $54 million per year in aggregate (2021 US$) for water quality improvements resulting from a stylized intervention that increases stream bank canopy cover by 25% and decreases runoff from impervious surfaces, leading to improvements in water quality and ecological endpoints for local streams. Although the three components of our analysis are conducted with data from North Carolina, we discuss how our findings are generalizable to urban and urbanizing areas across the larger Piedmont ecoregion of the Eastern United States.

Measuring the social benefits of water quality improvements to support regulatory objectives: Progress and future directions

Measuring the social benefits of water quality improvements to support regulatory objectives: Progress and future directions

Perspectives on valuing water quality improvements using stated preference methods

Improvements to the quality of freshwater rivers and lakes can generate a wide array of benefits, from “use values” such as recreational boating, fishing, and swimming to “nonuse values” such as improved outcomes for aquatic biodiversity. Bringing these nonmarket values into decision-making is crucial to determining appropriate levels of investment in water quality improvements. However, progress in the economic valuation of water quality benefits has lagged similar efforts to value air quality benefits, with implications for water policy. New data sources, modeling techniques, and innovation in stated preference survey methods offer notable improvements to estimates of use and nonuse benefits of improved water quality. Here, we provide a perspective on how recent applications of stated preference techniques to the valuation of the nonmarket benefits of water quality improvements have advanced the field of environmental valuation. This overview is structured around four key questions: i) What is it about water quality that we seek to value? ii) How should we design and implement the surveys which elicit individuals’ stated preferences? iii) How do we assess the validity of the findings provided by such studies? and iv) What are the contributions of these valuation exercises to public policy? In answering these questions, we make reference to the contributions provided by the papers in this Symposium.

Economic Evaluation on Self Purification Capacity of the Tamnip Stone Weir Reservoir: Replacement Cost Approach Method

This study investigates the changes in the concentration of pollutants before and after the removal of stone weir by using EFDC models. This paper analyzes the impact of Tamnip stone weir reservoir on the water quality of the main stream, which is directly affected by discharge water at the sewage treatment plant in Daejeon. This study further extends the field by performing replacement cost approach method to examine the economic benefits of water quality improvement. As a result of the EFDC model''s level calibration, it was analyzed that the level of RMSE was 0.4 m, NRMSE 0.11, and NSEC 0.01, which were properly calibrated. Furthermore, for verification, the model was properly calibrated with RMSE 0.10 m, NRMSE 0.10 and NSEC 0.01. To evaluate the adequacy of the water quality model, calibration was performed using the water quality measurement data at the W-2 point once a month. Water temperature, COD, T-N, and T-P all four water quality items had an R2 value of 0.8 or higher and the NSEC was between 0 and 1, therefore it is reasonable to perform analysis using simulations. Replacement cost approach method is performed using alternative cost in order to evaluate environmental technology effect from the perspective of economic benefit. According to the analysis of the effect of the Tamnip stone weir on river water quality, the water quality tends to deteriorate in all items of COD, T-N, T-P, NH₄-N, NO₃-N, and PO₄-P, although there are seasonal differences when the weir is removed. The reason for the water quality increase is because there was not enough time for biological self-purification during the Tamnip stone weir demolition. The significant increase in the water quality concentration from June to September is most likely due to the influence of temperature. Therefore, it is believed that removing the Tamnip stone weir located in the target section will have a significant impact on the water quality of the stream. In particular, the discharge water from the sewage treatment plant in Daejeon will be introduced within this section, which will have a positive effect on the water quality of the river. This study also sheds light on how economic benefits of environmental factors, such as water quality, could be measured by using replacement cost approach like alternative management facility or emission charges.

Economic Evaluation of Water Resource Management in South Korea Based on Benefit–Cost Analysis

The economic evaluation of the government policy is useful to identify the effectiveness of its financial management and the achievement of its goal. Based on valuation studies of water quality improvement from the Environmental Valuation Information System database provided by Korea Environment Institute, this study employed a meta-regression to measure the benefits of water quality improvement in three major river basins in South Korea. The empirical model is specified to capture the differentiated impact of water quality improvement by each river basin and the regression results showed that the increase in water quality grade has an impact on willingness-to-pay values. The total benefits provided by Han, Nakdong, and Geum River are estimated to be about US$490 million, about US$173 million, and about US$50 million per year, respectively. The estimated benefits were then compared with the costs, namely river management funds (RMFs) which are financial resources to support a variety of projects for water quality improvement. Based on benefit–cost comparison, this study explores the economic evaluation of water resource management in South Korea. This study also provides policy options including the equity of imposing water use charges, operational efficiency of RMFs, and stakeholder engagement for inclusive water governance that are helpful to maintain the sustainability of water resource in the long run.

Preferences for coastal and marine conservation in Vietnam: Accounting for differences in individual choice set formation

This paper has two objectives. The first is to estimate the value of implementing new coastal and marine conservation measures in Vietnam, focussing on the relative benefits of water quality improvements, coral conservation and control of marine plastic pollution. The second is to explicitly model any tendency of respondents to fail to give consideration to the “opt-out” or status quo option in a choice experiment, due to social and cultural factors. The analysis employs the independent availability logit model with random coefficients to simultaneously account for heterogeneity of preferences and choice set formation. Results show significantly improved model fit when consideration set heterogeneity is taken into account. However, estimates of preference weights and marginal willingness to pay for marine conservation measures are unaffected by this modelling choice.

Valuing the Potential Benefits of Water Quality Improvements in Watersheds Affected by Non-Point Source Pollution

Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution has been identified by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “the nation’s largest water quality problem”. Urban development, septic systems, and agricultural operations have been identified as the major sources of diffuse pollution in surface and ground water bodies. In recent decades, urban and agricultural Best Management Practices (BMP) have been developed in several states to address agricultural water quality and water use impacts, including the reduction of nutrient loads to help meet water quality standards. Compliance with BMPs is associated with some costs to local governments, homeowners, and agricultural operations, but the improvements in water quality associated with BMP adoption are expected to yield significant benefits to society in the form of improved recreational opportunities, navigation, flood control, and ecosystem health. The development of sound policies and decision making processes require balancing the costs of BMP adoption to the agricultural operations with the social benefits to be derived from the improved water quality. In this paper we develop a benefits transfer model to provide estimates of the economic benefits of properly implemented and effective Best Management Practices (BMP) throughout the state of Florida. These benefit estimates can be used in a cost-benefit framework to determine the optimal level of BMP adoption throughout the state of Florida and provide a framework for other regions to estimate the potential benefits of BMP-mediated water quality improvements.

Estimating the non-market benefits of water quality improvement for a case study in Spain: A contingent valuation approach

Abstract This article addresses an important topic related to the application of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Spanish watersheds. Results on a contingent valuation study, aimed to assess the non-market benefits of water quality improvements in the Guadiana river basin (GRB), are shown. Special attention has been paid to the issue of zero willingness-to-pay (WTP) responses, while addressing the possible presence of self-selection caused by protest responses. The results (i) indicate that sample selection bias is not a problem in our application, (ii) allow us to identify some key determinants of voting behaviour, and (iii) through the use of different econometric models allows us to find a robust estimate for the mean WTP to accurately inform decision-making.

Valoración económica de los beneficios ambientales de no mercado derivados de la mejora de la calidad del agua: Una estimación en aplicación de la Directiva Marco del Agua al Guadalquivir

This study contributes to the economic assessment of the benefits derived from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). A practical definition of environmental benefits and a valuation scenario of the non-market benefits of water quality improvement is proposed. This economic assessment is needed to asses whether the WFD is disproportionately costly. The contingent valuation method is applied to the Guadalquivir River Basin (Southern Spain), using a two-stage Heckman estimation model.

Modeling Regional Variation in Riverine Fish Biodiversity in the Arkansas–White–Red River Basin

AbstractThe patterns of biodiversity in freshwater systems are shaped by biogeography, environmental gradients, and human‐induced factors. In this study, we developed empirical models to explain fish species richness in subbasins of the Arkansas–White–Red River basin as a function of discharge, elevation, climate, land cover, water quality, dams, and longitudinal position. We used information‐theoretic criteria to compare generalized linear mixed models and identified well‐supported models. Subbasin attributes that were retained as predictors included discharge, elevation, number of downstream dams, percent forest, percent shrubland, nitrate, total phosphorus, and sediment. The random component of our models, which assumed a negative binomial distribution, included spatial correlation within larger river basins and overdispersed residual variance. This study differs from previous biodiversity modeling efforts in several ways. First, obtaining likelihoods for negative binomial mixed models, and thereby avoiding reliance on quasi‐likelihoods, has only recently become practical. We found the ranking of models based on these likelihood estimates to be more believable than that produced using quasi‐likelihoods. Second, because we had access to a regional‐scale watershed model for this river basin, we were able to include model‐estimated water quality attributes as predictors. Thus, the resulting models have potential value as tools with which to evaluate the benefits of water quality improvements to fish.

Making Benefit Transfers Work: Deriving and Testing Principles for Value Transfers for Similar and Dissimilar Sites Using a Case Study of the Non-Market Benefits of Water Quality Improvements Across Europe

We implement a controlled, multi-site experiment to develop and test guidance principles for benefits transfers. These argue that when transferring across relatively similar sites, simple mean value transfers are to be preferred but that when sites are relatively dissimilar then value function transfers will yield lower errors. The paper also provides guidance on the appropriate specification of transferable value functions arguing that these should be developed from theoretical rather than ad-hoc statistical approaches. These principles are tested via a common format valuation study of water quality improvements across five countries. While this provides an idealised tested, results support the above principles and suggest directions for future transfer studies.

Using multi-criteria analysis to explore non-market monetary values of water quality changes in the context of the Water Framework Directive

The EU Water Framework Directive represents a major change in the management of water resources and sets ambitious ecological objectives for all European waters. In the Directive, the economic assessment of the non-market environmental benefits of water quality improvements plays a crucial role. Studies valuing these benefits are now appearing in the literature, applying stated preference valuation techniques. However, these techniques are often criticized for providing only narrow mono-criterion information to the decision-making process. The research presented here builds on a recent line of investigation that combines monetary stated preference tools, in this case a choice experiment, with multi-criteria analysis, in this case the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). We argue that the AHP can contribute to a better understanding and interpretation of the choice experiment results by exploring the criteria involved in respondents' trade-off between the attributes. The AHP provides relevant insights for the application of use-based water quality ladders in the valuation of environmental benefits in the context of the WFD. Results also show the importance of the spatial dimension of preferences for water quality.

Impacts of changes in water quality on recreation behavior and benefits in Finland

The implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires nationally generalizable estimates of the benefits of protecting inland and coastal waters. As an alternative to benefit transfers and meta-analyses, we utilize national recreation inventory data combined with water quality data to model recreation participation and estimate the benefits of water quality improvements. Using hurdle models, we analyze the association of water clarity in individuals' home municipalities with the three most common water recreation activities – swimming, fishing and boating. The results show no effect on boating, but improved water clarity would increase the frequency of close-to-home swimming and fishing, as well as the number of fishers. Furthermore, to value the potential benefits of the WFD, we estimate the consumer surplus of a water recreation day using a travel cost approach. A water policy scenario with a 1-m improvement in water clarity for both inland and coastal waters indicates that the consumer surplus would increase 6% for swimmers and 15% for fishers. In contrast to previously estimated abatement costs to improve water quality, net benefits could turn out to be positive. Our study is a promising example of applying existing national recreation inventory data to estimate the benefits of water quality improvements for the purposes of the WFD.

Valuing Drinking Water Provision as an Ecosystem Service in the Neuse River Basin

The valuation of ecosystem services such as drinking water provision is of growing national and international interest. The cost of drinking water provision is directly linked to the quality of its raw water input, which is itself affected by upstream land use patterns. This analysis employs the benefit transfer method to quantify the economic benefits of water quality improvements for drinking water production in the Neuse River Basin in North Carolina. Two benefit transfer approaches, value transfer and function transfer, are implemented by combining the results of four previously published studies with data collected from eight Neuse Basin water treatment plants. The mean net present value of the cost reduction estimates for the entire Neuse Basin ranged from $2.7 million to $16.6 million for a 30% improvement in water quality over a 30-year period. The value-transfer approach tended to produce larger expected benefits than the function-transfer approach, but both approaches produced similar results despite the differences in their methodologies, time frames, study sites, and assumptions.

Social Benefits of Water Quality Improvement at the Taehwa River Based on Citizen's Willingness-To-Pay

Social Benefits of Water Quality Improvement at the Taehwa River Based on Citizen's Willingness-To-Pay

Estimating the benefits of water quality improvements under the Water Framework Directive: are benefits transferable?

The Water Framework Directive sets an objective of ‘Good Ecological Status’ for water bodies across the EU. Non-point pollution from agriculture is a major reason for the failure of rivers in the UK to meet this target. In this paper, we use choice experiment methodology to test the transferability of benefit estimates of water quality improvements for two small catchments where agricultural-source non-point pollution and irrigation water abstraction are the main threats to ecological status. We also investigate the most appropriate techniques to apply to transfer testing, including allowing for correlation between preferences for environmental attributes, and testing for acceptable differences between transferred and original values.

ECONOMIC MODELS FOR TMDL ASSESSMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

The TMDL assessment and implementation process is designed to achieve designated uses for water bodies, whichare set by states based on criteria including perceived costs and benefits. Setting water quality goals based on designateduses and plans to achieve these goals have important implications for public welfare. Both treatment and damage costs shouldbe considered in simultaneously determining the desired water quality goal and allocating pollution reductions amongsources to achieve that goal. Assessing and implementing TMDL plans are complicated by uncertainties about pollutiondamages and stakeholder responses. Economic optimization or simulation models linked to water quality models allow waterquality impacts and costs of TMDL standards to be assessed. Higher water quality thresholds may be reserved for watershedswith higher estimated benefits. Costs of achieving standards can be reduced by targeting reductions at pollution sources withthe lowest costs of achieving reductions. Trading programs can help achieve efficient targeting of pollution reductions whiledistributing costs equitably. The effectiveness of economic models to assist in setting water quality goals and in TMDLprogram planning and implementation can be improved by using economic models to analyze costs and benefits of waterquality improvements and to assist with pollution targeting and trading programs to minimize costs of reducing pollution.Multi-media impacts of pollution should be included within economic and environmental water quality models. Givenuncertainties about benefits and costs of achieving TMDL standards, policymakers and program managers need to collectmore data on stakeholder responses to TMDL programs as well as better monitoring data on pollutant levels and functioningof aquatic systems.

Evaluating the multiple benefits of marine water quality improvements: how important are health risk reductions?

Marine water pollution affects many recreational sites around the world. It has impacts not only on recreational activities but also on health risks for those who come into direct contact with the water. Few economic studies have explicitly considered the health risks of bathing in polluted marine waters and none have attempted to separate health benefits from other benefits of marine water quality improvements. This paper uses stated preference techniques to separately evaluate the multiple benefits of improving the quality of marine recreational waters at the Estoril Coast in Portugal. The results indicate that health risk reductions are only a small fraction of the total social benefits of water quality improvements.

Benefits of water quality policies: the Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is a unique and treasured natural resource. It is the largest estuary on the Atlantic coast and one of the largest estuaries in the world. The Chesapeake drains portions of six states: Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia and the District of Columbia. As testimony to its importance, the US Congress issued a directive in 1976 to the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) to examine and identify the factors that were altering the conditions of the Bay. Nutrient delivery to the Bay, which has increased dramatically over time, was identified as one of the factors and has been the primary focus of research and policy efforts related to achieving water quality improvements. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the benefits of water quality legislation in the Bay region from 1972, the year the Clean Water Act (CWA) was promulgated, to 1996. Nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorous, are the dominant criteria addressed by this case study. Benefits are assessed from a ‘with–without’ perspective. That is, 1996 water quality is compared with what it would have been in 1996 without the CWA and related legislation. The US EPA CBP Watershed and Water Quality Models were used to determine the distribution of nutrient loadings from point and non-point sources and characterize water quality. Modeling results indicate that conditions in the Bay are improved in some areas for some pollutants. Total phosphorus has decreased dramatically from ‘without’ concentrations in all major tributaries and segments of the Chesapeake Bay. The monetized annual boating, fishing, and swimming benefits of water quality improvements in the Chesapeake Bay range from $357.9 million to $1.8 billion. These benefit estimates represent use values for persons living in the District of Columbia, and portions of Maryland and Virginia. Residents of Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania, which are also part of the Bay Watershed, are not included in this analysis. As such, this range likely underestimates the true benefits of Bay water quality improvement.

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR WATER QUALITY AND SUPPLY ENHANCEMENTS IN THE GRAND RIVER WATERSHED

This paper reports the results of a large contingent valuation survey to estimate the social benefits of water quality improvements in the watershed. Early results indicate a willingness to pay (WTP) for residential water quality improvements of up to $4.50 per household per month (19% of the average water bill), with a somewhat lower value for preserving the environmental quality of parkland in the watershed. Using a 5% discount rate, this translates into a demand for water quality projects in the region with a capital value of nearly $1100 per household. The narrowness of the estimated range of WTP values, and their similarity to values found in other studies, suggests that our estimates are a reliable measure of the monetary value of social benefits from water quality improvements in the region. The main socio-economic determinants of willingness to pay appear to be household income, number of children, perception of existing water quality, and awareness of environmental issues on the part of survey re...