The Value of Water Quality Improvement on Lake Hora-Arsedi
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Date
2007-03
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A.A.U
Abstract
Surface water quality affects the wellbeing of local community and thus an improvement to Lake
Hora-Arsedi would benefit beshoftu residents. An Improvement proposed in this study is improving the
quality of waler in the lake one step from how Beshoftu residents perceived the existing water quality.
In this study, an attempt was made to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) of Beshoftu residents to this
improvement using contingent valuation method. A total of 250 households from Beshoftu town
residents were selected randomly. The study used the single bounded dichotomous choice technique
followed by an open-ended question for eliciting the Willingness to pay of household for the lake
clean-up. probit and tobit models were applied to identify factors affecting WTP.
The mean willingness to pay estimate, birr 11.42, from closed ended format aggregated for the total
population and total willingness to pay of the residents was found to be 119, 893 birr per month and
1,438,716 per annum. While the mean Willingness to pay estimate from open-ended mean
willingness to pay estimate, 5.02 birr, this total Willingness to pay was found to be 254,152 birr per
month and 3,049,825birr per annum. The study revealed that the distance of the respondent's
homestead from the lake, perception of the existing lake water quality, awareness of environmental
Problems, income of the respondent, sex of the respondent and family size are factors significantly
affect the willingness to pay of a household for lake clean-up.
The policy implication of the study is the government or any concerned body could have active
Participation of local community by enhancing environmental consciousness of residents and
creating awareness 011 the benefits associated with improved lake water quality through meetings
and seminars. Moreover, the concerned body should consider the case of major sources of lake
pollution and take measures without wasting time to improve the lake water quality
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Keywords
Contingent valnation, Water quality improvement, Willingness-to-pay