A Comparison of Alternative Approaches for Estimating Recreation and Related Benefits of Water Quality Improvements

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Summary
This Research Triangle Institute (RTI) report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compares alternative approaches for estimation the recreation and related benefits of water quality improvements. The results provide information on the performance of various ways to estimate the benefits of environmental quality improvements, so EPA can use such methods in preparing the regulatory impact analyses required by Executive Order 12291 and in evaluating other regulatory proposals. This report is also relevant to the proposed revision of the Federal water quality standards regulations, which recommends that States consider incremental benefits and costs in setting their water quality standards. Site-specific water quality standards are likely to play an important role in future water policy issues because they bring together the crucial elements of appropriate stream uses and advanced treatment requirements for municipalities and industries. Benefit-cost assessments can yield valuable information for these decisions.
The report is available in this database, and contains the following sections:

Chapter 1: Introduction, Objectives, and Summary.
Chapter 2: A Review of the Conceptual Basis for Benefit Estimation Approaches.
Chapter 3: Survey Design
Chapter 4: Contingent Valuation Design and Results: Option Price and User Values.
Chapter 5: Contingent Valuation Design and Results: Option and Existence Values.
Chapter 6: Contingent Ranking Design and Results: Option Prices.
Chapter 7: A Generalized Travel Cost Model for Measuring the Recreational Benefits of Water Quality Improvements.
Chapter 8: Comparison of Alternative Approaches for Estimating Recreation and Related Benefits.
Chapter 9: References
Appendix A: Sample Design.
Appendix B: Survey Form and Procedures.
Appendix C: Survey Analysis: Supporting Tables.
Appendix D: Survey Questionnaires.
Appendix E: Technical Water Quality Measures: An Economists' Perspective.
Appendix F: Travel Cost: Supporting Tables.
Appendix G: Alternative Regression Models.

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• Front Matter through first half of Chapter 4 (PDF, 1016.5K, About PDF)
• Second half of Chapter 4 through Chapter 6 (PDF, 991.1K, About PDF)
• Chapters 7 through 9 (PDF, 1033.8K, About PDF)
• Appendices (PDF, 897.7K, About PDF)

Date Linked: 05/28/2009

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