scholarly journals River Water Quality: Who Cares, How Much and Why?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danyel Hampson ◽  
Silvia Ferrini ◽  
Dan Rigby ◽  
Ian J. Bateman
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Water ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Ecological Quality ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
River Recreation ◽  
Market Benefits

One important motivation for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive is the creation of non-market environmental benefits such as improved ecological quality, or greater opportunities for open-access river recreation via microbial pollution remediation. Pollution sources impacting on ecological or recreational water quality can be uncorrelated but non-market benefits arising from riverine improvements are typically conflated within benefit valuation studies. Using stated preference choice experiments, we seek to disaggregate these sources of value for different river users, thereby allowing decision makers to understand the consequences of adopting alternative investment strategies. Our results suggest anglers derive greater value from improvements to the ecological quality of river water, in contrast to swimmers and rowers for whom greater value is gained from improvements to recreational quality. We also find three distinct groups of respondents: a majority preferring ecological over recreational improvements, a substantial minority holding opposing preference orderings and a small proportion expressing relatively low values for either form of river quality enhancement. As such, this research demonstrates that the non-market benefits which may accrue from different types of water quality improvements are nuanced in terms of their potential beneficiaries and, by inference, their overall value and policy implications.

Water Framework Directive catchment planning: a case study apportioning loads and assessing environmental benefits of programme of measures

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 407-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Crabtree ◽  
Sarah Kelly ◽  
Hannah Green ◽  
Graham Squibbs ◽  
Gordon Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
River Water ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
Control Point ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Ecological Status ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
River Water Quality ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Water Quality Modelling

Complying with proposed Water Framework Directive (WFD) water quality standards for ‘good ecological status’ in England and Wales potentially requires a range of Programmes of Measures (PoMs) to control point and diffuse sources of pollution. There is an urgent need to define the benefits and costs of a range of potential PoMs. Water quality modelling can be used to understand where the greatest impact in a catchment can be achieved through ‘end of pipe’ and diffuse source reductions. This information can be used to guide cost-effective investment by private water companies and those with responsibilities for agricultural, industrial and urban diffuse inputs. In the UK, river water quality modelling with the Environment Agency SIMCAT model is regarded as the best current approach to support decision making for river water quality management and planning. The paper describes how a SIMCAT model has been used to conduct a trial WFD integrated catchment planning study for the River Ribble catchment in the North West of England. The model has been used to assess over 80 catchment planning scenarios. The results are being used support a national assessment of the cost-effectiveness of proposed PoMs.

scholarly journals Willingness to Pay for Water Quality Improvements in the United States and Canada: Considering Possibilities for International Meta-Analysis and Benefit Transfer

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Johnston ◽  
Paul J. Thomassin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Benefit Transfer ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Aquatic Life

This paper presents a multinational meta-analysis estimated to identify systematic components of willingness to pay for surface water quality improvements, developed to support benefit transfer for Canadian policy development. Metadata are drawn from stated preference studies that estimate WTP for water quality changes affecting aquatic life habitats—a type of study with few Canadian examples. The goals of this paper are to assess the properties of a multinational (United States/Canada) meta-analysis compared to a single-country (U.S.) analog; illustrate the potential information that may be derived as well as the analytical challenges; and assess the performance of resulting meta-functions for benefit transfer.

scholarly journals Valuing Ecological Improvements in the Chesapeake Bay and the Importance of Ancillary Benefits

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Moore ◽  
Dennis Guignet ◽  
Chris Dockins ◽  
Kelly B. Maguire ◽  
Nathalie B. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Chesapeake Bay ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Sediment Pollution ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Ancillary Benefits ◽  
Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Reducing the excess nutrient and sediment pollution that is damaging habitat and diminishing recreational experiences in coastal estuaries requires actions by people and communities that are within the boundaries of the watershed but may be far from the resource itself, thus complicating efforts to understand tradeoffs associated with pollution control measures. Such is the case with the Chesapeake Bay, one of the most iconic water resources in the United States. All seven states containing part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed were required under the Clean Water Act to submit detailed plans to achieve nutrient and sediment pollution reductions. The implementation plans provide information on the location and type of management practices making it possible to project not only water quality improvements in the Chesapeake Bay but also improvements in freshwater lakes throughout the watershed, which provide important ancillary benefits to people bearing the cost of reducing pollution to the Bay but unlikely to benefit directly. This paper reports the results of a benefits study that links the forecasted water quality improvements to ecological endpoints and administers a stated preference survey to estimate use and nonuse value for aesthetic and ecological improvements in the Chesapeake Bay and watershed lakes. Our results show that ancillary benefits and nonuse values account for a substantial proportion of total willingness to pay and would have a significant impact on the net benefits of pollution reduction programs.

Public preferences for water quality improvements: implications for the implementation of the EC Water Framework Directive in Scotland

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Glenk ◽  
Manuel Lago ◽  
Dominic Moran
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Framework Directive ◽  
National Level ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Geographical Differences ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
River Basin District ◽  
State Water ◽  
Market Benefits

The EC Water Framework Directive (WFD) sets ambitious quality targets for member state water bodies by 2015. The provisions are being transposed predominantly using a cost-effectiveness criterion, which raises questions about the relative balance of costs [of reaching good status (GS)] and corresponding (non-)market benefits or the economic efficiency of the legislation. This study provides an insight into public perceptions of water quality improvements based on an application of national characterisation data on the state of the water environment in Scotland. A choice experiment approach is used to quantify non-market benefits of achieving GS across Scottish rivers and lochs over varying timescales and different geographical levels, with the aim of revealing willingness-to-pay data that is specifically relevant for WFD implementation. We find that the benefits of implementing the WFD are substantial. Results show that geographical differences in preferences for national improvements in the river and loch water quality in Scotland exist, both in terms of magnitudes of benefit estimates and time preferences for improvements. These differences need to be taken into account in analyses at the river basin district or national level in order to support policy options for the implementation of the WFD across the country.

Environmental value transfer: an application for the South East Queensland waterways

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (11) ◽  
pp. 91-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.J. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
River System ◽  
Environmental Resources ◽  
Quality Improvements ◽  
Environmental Benefit ◽  
Value Transfer ◽  
Environmental Value ◽  
Environmental Management Strategies

Economic valuations of the environmental resources provided by the waterways of South East Queensland are required for the evaluation of proposed environmental management strategies. Due to time and funding constraints it is unlikely that the environmental resources for each tributary of the river system will be subject to individual and explicit valuation. This paper reviews the literature about the validity of environmental benefit transfer, identifying the protocol for undertaking such a study. It then describes a study designed to transfer the estimated value of water quality improvements for the Bremer River to other waterways in South East Queensland. The study addresses some of the shortcomings of stated preference techniques to value the environment, including improving the quality of the information provided to survey respondents and the reliability of their responses by adopting a citizens' jury approach to the valuation exercise. In addition, the study is expected to provide the results in a form that will facilitate the estimation of a demand function for water quality improvements that will be meaningful for environmental value transfer to other sites with similar water quality issues.

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