| Autor: |
von Haefen RH; Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8109.; Center for Environmental and Resource Economic Policy, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8109., Van Houtven G; Center for Water Resources, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709., Naumenko A; Global Data Science, Visa, Inc., Foster City, CA 94404., Obenour DR; Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7908., Miller JW; Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7908., Kenney MA; Institute on the Environment, 325 Learning and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108., Gerst MD; Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740., Waters H; Institute on the Environment, 325 Learning and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. |
| Abstrakt: |
Streams in urbanizing watersheds are threatened by economic development that can lead to excessive sediment erosion and surface runoff. These anthropogenic stressors diminish valuable ecosystem services and result in pervasive degradation commonly referred to as "urban stream syndrome." Understanding how the public perceives and values improvements in stream conditions is necessary to support efforts to quantify the economic benefits of water quality improvements. We develop an ecological production framework that translates measurable indicators of stream water quality into ecological endpoints. Our interdisciplinary approach integrates a predictive hierarchical water quality model that is well suited for sparse data environments, an expert elicitation that translates measurable water quality indicators into ecological endpoints that focus group participants identified as most relevant, and a stated preference survey that elicits the public's willingness to pay for changes in these endpoints. To illustrate our methods, we develop an application to the Upper Neuse River Watershed located in the rapidly developing Triangle region of North Carolina (the United States). Our results suggest, for example, that residents are willing to pay roughly $127 per household and $54 million per year in aggregate (2021 US$) for water quality improvements resulting from a stylized intervention that increases stream bank canopy cover by 25% and decreases runoff from impervious surfaces, leading to improvements in water quality and ecological endpoints for local streams. Although the three components of our analysis are conducted with data from North Carolina, we discuss how our findings are generalizable to urban and urbanizing areas across the larger Piedmont ecoregion of the Eastern United States. |
