Grantee Research Project Results
2017 Progress Report: Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach
EPA Grant Number: R836165Title: Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach
Investigators: von Haefen, Roger , Van Houtven, George L. , Obenour, Daniel Redd , Taylor, Laura , Kenney, Melissa , Gerst, Michael
Current Investigators: von Haefen, Roger , Taylor, Laura , Van Houtven, George L. , Obenour, Daniel Redd , Kenney, Melissa , Gerst, Michael
Institution: North Carolina State University , Desert Research Institute , University of Maryland - College Park
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2020 (Extended to May 31, 2021)
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2017 through May 31,2018
Project Amount: $799,728
RFA: Water Quality Benefits (2015) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Water
Objective:
To support EPA's efforts to advance knowledge for conducting economic evaluations of environmental policies, the main objective of our proposed research is to develop and demonstrate methods for valuing the use and nonuse benefits of improving water quality in wadeable streams in urbanizing watersheds. These streams provide valuable ecosystem services and are subject to a combination of anthropogenic stressors that have led to pervasive degradation referred to as "urban stream syndrome". Understanding how the general public perceives and values improvements in stream conditions is necessary to support EPA's efforts to quantify the public's willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvements.
Progress Summary:
In year two of our three-year project, focus groups were conducted with the lay public to identify four key dimensions of water quality that are perceived and valued: 1) clarity; 2) ecosystem conditions; 3) human health risk; and 4) trash. These focus groups also pretested choice experiment questions that will be incorporated into the final stated preference survey. Significant progress was made on the water quality modeling that leveraged existing Upper Neuse River basin data and a Bayesian hierarchical framework, and groundwork for the expert elicitation was laid. The full research team convened several meetings to discuss the integration of available water quality data, the water quality modeling, the expert elicitation, and the public's perceptions and value for water quality in wadeable streams within our ecological production function framework.
Future Activities:
Focus groups will continue to refine and test the stated preference survey instrument, which will be fielded in spring 2019. The expert elicitation, which translated objective measures of water quality into our four water quality attributes within our ecological production function framework, will commence in early 2019. Our hope is to integrate all three components of the grant - the water quality modeling, expert elicitation and stated preference survey in late spring 2019 with a case study for the Upper Neuse River basin of the Triangle region to commence soon thereafter.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 2 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Water quality, economic benefits, willingness to pay, stated preference methods, expert elicitation, ecological production function, wadeable streams, Upper Neuse River Basin, Cape Fear River BasinProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.