Local Communities’ Willingness to Contribute Toward the Improved Water Quality of River Yamuna

Abstract

Despite various government initiatives, the continual rise in the pollution levels of the River Yamuna has extensively degraded the water quality. One of the reasons to be blamed for such failures is the lack of community participation. About the above background, this study tries to estimate the local’s willingness to contribute (WTC) toward the improved water quality of River Yamuna in Delhi using the contingent valuation method, where the contribution can be made either in the form of money, time, or both for two different scenarios. The study also tries to identify the factors that will motivate people’s WTC to the clean-up program using a multinomial logit model. The results showed that most respondents were willing to contribute to the program in terms of money, time, and both as they value the cultural and provisioning services from the river. Furthermore, the result from the regression model identifies the influence of socio-demographic and perceptional characteristics of the respondents on their willingness to pay. The information presented in the study provides an insight for better understanding and planning of clean-up programs.