Household Willingness to Pay for Micropollutant Removal in Domestic Wastewater: A Choice Experiment Study

Abstract

The combination of end-of-pipe solutions and information campaigns aiming to change behavior can help reduce the concentration of emerging chemical contaminants in domestic waste water and be cost-effective from the societal perspective. A choice experiment study was applied to investigate the preferences of the inhabitants of Bordeaux metropolitan area and quantify their willingness to pay (WTP) for implementing such policy scenario. As expected, the estimation of mixed Logit models in WTP-space confirms the presence of observed and unobserved heterogeneity in choice behavior. However, there is strong evidence that advanced technology treatment upgrading is more highly valued than environmental information-oriented programs. Furthermore, our results indicate that considerable welfare gains may be achieved by not delaying public investment decision.