Valuing improvements in the ecological integrity of local and regional waters using the biological condition gradient

Author:

Vossler Christian A.1ORCID,Dolph Christine L.2ORCID,Finlay Jacques C.2ORCID,Keiser David A.3ORCID,Kling Catherine L.4ORCID,Phaneuf Daniel J.5

Affiliation:

1. Department of Economics and Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996

2. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108

3. Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003

4. Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853

5. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706

Abstract

Scientific knowledge related to quantifying the monetized benefits for landscape-wide water quality improvements does not meet current regulatory and benefit–cost analysis needs in the United States. In this study we addressed this knowledge gap by incorporating the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) as a water quality metric into a stated preference survey capable of estimating the total economic value (use and nonuse) for aquatic ecosystem improvements. The BCG is grounded in ecological principles and generalizable and transferable across space. Moreover, as the BCG translates available data on biological condition into a score on a 6-point scale, it provides a simple metric that can be readily communicated to the public. We applied our BCG-based survey instrument to households across the Upper Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee river basins and report values for a range of potential improvements that vary by location, spatial scale, and the scope of the water quality change. We found that people are willing to pay twice as much for an improvement policy that targets their home watershed (defined as a four-digit hydrologic unit) versus a more distant one. We also found that extending the spatial scale of a local policy beyond the home watershed does not generate additional benefits to the household. Finally, our results suggest that nonuse sources of value (e.g., bequest value, intrinsic aesthetic value) are an important component of overall benefits.

Funder

Environmental Protection Agency

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference36 articles.

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Water Quality Inventory: Report to Congress. EPA-841-R-16-011 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Washington D.C. (2017). https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-12/documents/305brtc_finalowow_08302017.pdf

2. From hogs to HABs: impacts of industrial farming in the US on nitrogen and phosphorus and greenhouse gas pollution

3. Landscape Drivers of Dynamic Change in Water Quality of U.S. Rivers

4. Measuring the social benefits of water quality improvements to support regulatory objectives: Progress and future directions;Moore C.;Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

5. A. M. Freeman III, Air and Water Pollution Control: A Benefit-Cost Assessment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1982).

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