Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province

Even though surface water has been polluted almost everywhere in China, few economic valuation studies have been conducted to value water quality changes. This paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in Yunnan, China, which estimates the total value of a real investment project to improv...

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Main Authors: Wang, Hua, Shi, Yuyan, Kim, Yoonhee, Kamata, Takuya
Format: Journal Article
Language:en_US
Published: Elsevier 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16212
id okr-10986-16212
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-162122021-04-23T14:03:28Z Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province Wang, Hua Shi, Yuyan Kim, Yoonhee Kamata, Takuya contingent valuation water quality Even though surface water has been polluted almost everywhere in China, few economic valuation studies have been conducted to value water quality changes. This paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in Yunnan, China, which estimates the total value of a real investment project to improve the water quality of Lake Puzhehei by one grade level. Located in Qiubei County far from big cities, the lake has been experiencing rapid water quality deterioration in past several years. Based on the multiple bounded discrete choice approach, an average household in Qiubei County is estimated to be willing to pay 30 yuan per month continuously for 5 years for the water quality improvement by one grade level, roughly equivalent to 3% of the average household income. The elasticity of willingness-to-pay with respect to income is estimated to be 0.21. The economic rate of return of the proposed project is estimated to be 18%, indicating an economically favorable investment in water quality improvement. This study also demonstrates that the previous knowledge about the water quality changes and about the project can have significant positive impacts on people's willingness to pay, whereas the interviewer effect on valuation can be negative. 2013-11-04T20:32:19Z 2013-11-04T20:32:19Z 2013-07-13 Journal Article Ecological Economics 0921-8009 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16212 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank Elsevier Publications & Research :: Journal Article Publications & Research China
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language en_US
topic contingent valuation
water quality
spellingShingle contingent valuation
water quality
Wang, Hua
Shi, Yuyan
Kim, Yoonhee
Kamata, Takuya
Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
geographic_facet China
description Even though surface water has been polluted almost everywhere in China, few economic valuation studies have been conducted to value water quality changes. This paper reports an economic valuation study conducted in Yunnan, China, which estimates the total value of a real investment project to improve the water quality of Lake Puzhehei by one grade level. Located in Qiubei County far from big cities, the lake has been experiencing rapid water quality deterioration in past several years. Based on the multiple bounded discrete choice approach, an average household in Qiubei County is estimated to be willing to pay 30 yuan per month continuously for 5 years for the water quality improvement by one grade level, roughly equivalent to 3% of the average household income. The elasticity of willingness-to-pay with respect to income is estimated to be 0.21. The economic rate of return of the proposed project is estimated to be 18%, indicating an economically favorable investment in water quality improvement. This study also demonstrates that the previous knowledge about the water quality changes and about the project can have significant positive impacts on people's willingness to pay, whereas the interviewer effect on valuation can be negative.
format Journal Article
author Wang, Hua
Shi, Yuyan
Kim, Yoonhee
Kamata, Takuya
author_facet Wang, Hua
Shi, Yuyan
Kim, Yoonhee
Kamata, Takuya
author_sort Wang, Hua
title Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
title_short Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
title_full Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
title_fullStr Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
title_full_unstemmed Valuing Water Quality Improvement in China : A Case Study of Lake Puzhehei in Yunnan Province
title_sort valuing water quality improvement in china : a case study of lake puzhehei in yunnan province
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2013
url http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16212
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