Water supply valuation of high Andes Wetlands, Chinchiná river high Watershed, Colombia

Abstract

The valuation of the ecosystem services in the high area of the Chinchina River watershed started with those related to the wetlands, with important community participation who considered that the water supply has the greatest value in relation to other prioritized services, being used for economic valuation. We first calculated the collection and the recovery values, considering variables such as forest areas and collected water volume, the forest importance value, the productive system opportunity costs, and the ecosystem restoration cost. Finally, we used the total value for a comparison between the obtained values and those corresponding to the costs, per cubic meter, that the water service company charges to the community. Results show wetland's generated water would have a value of 4.28 USD per cubic meter if they were valued at public service rates.