Water pollution is widely considered to be one of the most important environmental
issues facing New Zealand. Waikato region residents have reported that water
pollution is easily their most important environmental concern in each of four
attitude surveys conducted by Environment Waikato. Technical and regulatory
mechanisms to reduce water pollution, especially non-point source pollution from
agriculture are the focus of an intensive research effort both in New Zealand and
internationally. This work should assist farmers and policy makers to identify the
most cost effective options for achieving any given improvement in water quality.
Research described in this paper aims to complement existing research projects by
developing appropriate methodology for valuation of water quality improvements in
New Zealand. It is envisaged that this type of information will inform the policy
process by allowing decision makers to consider both the costs and the benefits of
different levels of water quality improvements. This paper describes the first phase
focussed on the Karapiro catchment which used focus groups and choice modelling
in order to understand and quantify the value of water quality improvements in the
catchment.[Show full abstract]
![[PDF]](/themes/LURA/images/mimes/b_pdf.png "PDF file"){kind=small}
