Determinants of Individuals' Willingness to Pay for Perceived Reductions in Environmental Health Risks: A Case Study of Bathing Water Quality

Abstract

A contingent valuation (CV) study was undertaken to investigate individuals' stated willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce perceived risks of illness from the quality of bathing water at two beaches in East Anglia, United Kingdom. One beach, Great Yarmouth, failed to meet the EC (European Community) Bathing Water Quality Directive standard, whereas the other at Lowestoft passed. The analysis focuses on determinants of individuals' WTP, including measures of risk perception and attitudes to health not usually measured in CV studies. A conceptual model is then presented which sets the valuation of individual preferences in the context of personal worldviews, and external cultural, societal, and environmental factors which may influence, directly or indirectly, an individual's stated WTP.