Wyley Hodgson
I will have two main objectives and goals while visiting Suzhou this summer:
- Evaluate the socioeconomic scenario at the cities and communities surrounding Taihu in order to properly design a benefit transfer valuation study of the water quality in Taihu. The study will establish the willingness to pay for clean water in Taihu.
- Investigate the sources of pollution being discharged into Taihu and its recharge supply and understand the policy and legal context of each pollution source. Establishing this information will provide a framework for future graduate students who wish to pursue economic and/or policy studies at Taihu.
BENEFIT TRANSFER:
A benefit transfer uses information from one or more existing valuation studies to estimate the value of an environmental change not previously studied. I will estimate a valuation function based on results from previous, similar studies (study site). This valuation function will be used with the attributes of the study sites in order to predict the willingness to pay for restoring Taihu’s water quality (policy site).
Due to the short timeframe I will have in Suzhou, the benefit transfer method is most appropriate to conduct an economic valuation on Taihu. While typical willingness to pay studies are founded on carefully developed and administered surveys, I will not have the time nor the resources to employ this method. To successfully carry out this valuation, I will need to find existing studies that have established values for improved water quality in lakes. I have begun this literature review and have found promising studies that may serve as study sites. However, the accuracy of my own study relies heavily on how well these study sites represent my policy site. In order to determine this representation, I will need to learn the characteristics of Taihu and its users. The exact characteristics I will need to seek out will depend on the study sites used; however, I intend conducting brief interviews with households who live in the surrounding areas and/or are affected by the deteriorating water quality of Taihu.
The results of any benefit transfer can have large inaccuracies. It is not uncommon for the final valuation to be a magnitude of order off from the actual value. The level of accuracy will depend on the quality of study sites used and how well they fit the scenario at the study site.
POLLUTION AND POLICY INVESTIGATION:
Before attempting to design and suggest policy options intended to improve the water quality at Taihu, a strong understanding for the sources of pollution and existing policy must be known. As to date I have not been able to establish with reasonable certainty what the sources of the eutrophication at Taihu are and where these sources originate. Three sectors I would like to investigate more thoroughly while in Suzhou include:
- Manufacturing/chemical industries in Wuxi, Suzhou, and other nearby cities
- Agriculture/aquaculture and associated non-point source pollution from runoff
- Waste water treatment plants and drainage networks, especially in Wuxi but as well as other cities in the area
Additionally, I would like to gain insight on what policy and legal mechanisms have been implemented to restore Taihu’s water quality. Moreover, I would like to understand what metrics are being used to measure the effectiveness of these policies. Specifically, I would like to inquire upon:
- Technology-based control policies for entities that discharge from point sources into water bodies
- Policy approaches to non-point source polluting entities
- Payment schemes such as the newly enacted “environmental compensation mechanism”
If possible, I would like to arrange site visits and conduct interviews with representatives from each of the sectors listed above. Additionally, I would like to establish contact with any NGOs or other relevant non-profit organizations that are involved in policy efforts to improve conditions at Taihu. In doing so, my goal is to establish an understanding of the political landscape and establish a network for future graduate students who partake in internships at Suzhou.
