Similar articles

Abstract: Despite widespread concerns and elevated policy debates, little is known about the Chinese public’s perceptions of water pollution and willingness to cooperate with government policies. Based on survey data, this study examined lake Tai resident perception of water pollution, willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements, and its influencing factors. contingent valuation (CV) results showed that respondents would prefer to pay 141 CNY per household a year, approximately 0.70% of their annual per capita disposable income, as an environmental fee to improve water quality in lake Tai. Aggregate WTP for all five lakeside cities of lake Tai was estimated at about 3.8 billion CNY, without discounts, in the next ten years. WTP was found to increase with income and female respondents were willing to pay more than males. Those respondents who were dissatisfied with water quality were more likely to pay more. The usage of lake Tai did not strongly affect WTP.

[1]Akter, S., 2008. Determinants of willingness to pay for safe drinking water: a case study in Bangladesh. Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, 5(3):85-91.

[2]Bishop, R.C., Heberlien, T.A., 1979. Measuring values of extra market goods: are indirect measures biased. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61(5):926-930.

[3]Bjornstad, D., Cummings, R., Osborne, L., 1997. A learning design for reducing hypothetical bias in the contingent valuation method. Environmental and Resource Economics, 10(3):207-221.

[4]Bordeen, C., 2007. China’s Premier Orders Lake Algae Probe. Available from http://www.pacificenvironment.org/article.php?id=2436 [Accessed on Dec.16, 2010]

[5]Boyle, K.J., 2003. Contingent Valuation in Practice. In: Champ, P.A., Boyle, K.J., Brown, T.C. (Eds.), A Primer on Nonmarket Valuation. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, p.111-169.

[6]Carson, R.T., Mitchell, R.C., 1993. The value of clean water: the public’s willingness to pay for boatable, fishable, and swimmable quality water. Water Resources Research, 29(7):2445-2454.

[7]Chang, H.Q., Yang, X.E., Fang, Y.Y., Pu, P.M., Li, Z.K., Rengel, Z., 2006. In-situ nitrogen removal from the eutrophic water by microbial-plant integrated system. Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE B, 7(7):521-531.

[8]Chen, Y.W., Fan, C.X., Teubner, K., Dokulil, M., 2003. Changes of nutrients and phytoplankton chlorophyll-a in a large shallow lake, Taihu, China: an 8-year investigation. Hydrobiologia, 506-509(1-3):273-279.

[9]Cummings, R.G., Harrison, G.W., Rutström, E.E., 1995. Homegrown values and hypothetical surveys: is the dichotomous choice approach incentive-compatible? American Economic Review, 85:260-266.

[10]Davis, R.K., 1963. The Value of Outdoor Recreation: an Economic Study of the Maine Woods. PhD Thesis, Department of Economics, Harvard University, USA.

[11]Desvousges, W.H., Smith, V.K., Fisher, A., 1983. Estimates of the option values for water quality improvements. Economics Letters, 13(1):81-86.

[12]Devi, J.S., Joseph, B., Karunakaran, K., Anurdha, B., Devi, K.R., 2009. People’s attitudes towards paying for water. Current Science, 97(9-10):1296-1302.

[13]Edwards, S.F., 1988. Option prices for groundwater protection. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 15(4):475-487.

[14]Gupta, V., Mythili, G., 2010. Willingness to pay for water quality improvement: a study of Powai Lake in India. Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, 8(1):15-21.

[15]GB3838-2002. Environmental Quality Standards forSurface Water. Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ), China.

[16]Hanemann, M., 1999. Neo-Classical Economic Theory and Contingent Valuation. In: Bateman, I.J., Willis, K.G (Eds.), Valuing Environmental Preferences: Theory and Practice of the Contingent Valuation Method in the US, EU, and Developing Countries. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

[17]Hanemann, M., Loomis, J., Kanninen, B., 1991. Statistical efficiency of double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 73(4):1255-1263.

[18]Herriges, J., Shogren, J., 1996. Starting point bias in dichotomous choice valuation with follow-up questioning. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 30(1):112-131.

[19]Huang, Z.H., Xue, B., Feng, Y., 2006. Change of water environment and its future in Taihu Lake in relation with economic development in this lake basin. Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 15(5):627-631 (in Chinese).

[20]Hökby, S., Söderqvist, T., 2003. Elasticities of demand and willingness to pay for environmental services in Sweden. Environmental and Resource Economics, 26(3):361-383.

[21]Jones, N., Sophoulis, C.M., Malesios, C., 2008. Economic valuation of coastal water quality and protest responses: A case study in Mitilini, Greece. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 37(6):2478-2491.

[22]KC, A., Collins, A.R., 2011. Estimation of a Surface Water Quality Valuation Index for the Appalachian Region. Selected Paper Prepared for Presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, p.24-26.

[23]Li, L.F., Li, Y.H., Biswas, D.K., Nian, Y.G., Jiang, G.M., 2008. Potential of constructed wetlands in treating the eutrophic water: Evidence from Taihu Lake of China. Bioresource Technology, 99(6):1656-1663.

[24]Li, W.C., Yang, Q.X., 1995. Wetland utilization in Lake Taihu for fish farming and improvement of lake water quality. Ecological Engineering, 5(1):107-121.

[25]Liebe, U., Preisendörfer, P., Meyerhoff, J., 2011. To pay or not to pay: competing theories to explain individuals’ willingness to pay for public environmental goods. Environment and Behavior, 43(1):106-130.

[26]Machado, F.S., Mourato, S., 2002. Evaluating the multiple benefits of marine water quality improvements: how important are health risk reductions? Journal of Environmental Management, 65(3):239-250.

[27]Mitchell, R.C., Carson, R.T., 1981. An Experiment in Determining Willingness to Pay for National Water Quality Improvements. EPA Report to the US Environmental Protection Agency, Resources for the Future, Washington DC.

[28]Mitchell, R.C., Carson, R.T., 1989. Using Surveys to Value Public Goods: The Contingent Valuation Method. Resources for the Future, Washington DC.

[29]NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission), 2008. Overall Scheme for Comprehensive Cleaning Water in Lake Tai Basin. Available from http://www.ndrc.gov.cn/zjgx/P020080611378720026826.pdf [Accessed on Oct. 15, 2010]

[30]OECD, 2003. Social Issues in the Provision and Pricing of Water Services. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Publishing, Paris, France.

[31]Ren, H.Q., Zhang, P., Liu, C.H., Xue, Y.R., Lian, B., 2010. The potential use of bacterium strain R219 for controlling of the bloom-forming cyanobacteria in freshwater lake. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 26(3):465-472.

[32]Rose, N.L., Boyle, J.F., Du, Y., Yi, C., Dai, X., Appleby, P.G., Bennion, H., Cai, S., Yu, L., 2004. Sedimentary evidence for changes in the pollution status of Taihu in the Jiangsu region of eastern China. Journal of Paleolimnology, 32(1):41-51.

[33]Shultz, S.D., Lindsay, B.E., 1990. The willingness to pay for groundwater protection. Water Resources Research, 26(9):1869-1875.

[34]Smith, V.K., 2006. Fifth Years of Contingent Valuation. In: Alberini, A., Kahn, J.R. (Eds.), Handbook on Contingent Valuation, Edward Elgar, UK, p.7-65.

[35]Spencer, M.A., Swallow, S.K., Miller, C.J., 1998. Valuing water quality monitoring: a contingent valuation experiment involving hypothetical and real payments. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 27(1):28-42.

[36]Torgler, B., Maria, A., Valinas, G., Macintyrez, A., 2008. Differences in Preferences towards the Environment: the Impact of a Gender, Age and Parental Effect. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers, No. 180.

[37]Vásquez, W.F., Mozumder, P., Hernández-Arce, J., Berrens, R.P., 2009. Willingness to pay for safe drinking water: evidence from Parral, Mexico. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(11):3391-3400.

[38]World Bank, 2004. China-Tai Basin Urban Environment Project, Report No. AB180, Project P057933. Available from http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2004/03/23/000104615_20040323130018/Rendered/PDF/PID0P057933.pdf [Accessed on Aug. 1, 2010]

[39]Zhu, G.W., Qin, B.Q., Gao, G., Zhang, L., Luo, L.C., Zhang, Y.L., 2007. Effects of hydrodynamics on phosphorus concentrations in water of Lake Taihu, a large, shallow, eutrophic lake of China. Hydrobiologia, 581(1):53-61.

[40]Zhu, J.G., Zhang, X.J., Hu, W.P., 2010. A method for assessing the swamping of Lake Taihu and its application. Acta Scientiae Circumstantiae, 30(8):1695-1699 (in Chinese).