Abstract
The chapter applied a willingness to pay ability (WPA) approach to estimate the economic value of drinking water (EVM) using primary data. The sample of 350 households are randomly taken from four wards of Kanpur Nagar, Uttar Pradesh (India). Simple OLS, probit, logit, and mixed-effect logit regression models are applied to examine the effect of social- economic variables on WPA of households to receive better water supply from suppliers. It found that the municipality is charging a very low price to provide water supply of 30 Kilolitre/household per month. However, implicit cost (IC) of water/household is found higher as compared to WPA. IC/household appeared high due to consumption of unsafe drinking water, and incidence of various waterborne health issues and diseases. Family size, occupation, and annual income showed a positive impact on WPA of households.
TopIntroduction
Production of goods is not possible without water, rivers, lakes, forest and air and other) (Streimikiene, 2015; Cosgrove & Loucks, 2015; Jamel & Derbali, 2016; Kapur, 2016; Singh et al., 2018). People or human receive different types of goods and services from nature which is known as ecosystem services (Jamel & Derbali, 2016; Singh, 2020). Ecosystem services provide several benefits to regulate climate change, reduce pollution, conserve water resources, maintain soil quality and wind speed (Zho et al., 2021). Hence, natural and ecosystem services is crucial determinant of economic and economic development (Golubev, 1983; Jamel & Derbali, 2016; Goswami & Bisht, 2017; Singh et al., 2018; Singh, 2020; Singh et al., 2020; Singh et al., 2021). Water is a most essential component of ecosystem services. Water is an essential component of socio-economic development (Golubev, 1983; Chowdhury & Behera, 2021). It is an essential resource to meet the numerous requirements of human livelihood (Borgoyary, 2013). Water is essential public goods that meets nutritional requirement of human body. Production of agricultural and industrial sector is not possible without water (Singh & Jyoti, 2021b). It helps to generate energy and electricity for people and industries. Water meets the irrigation requirement of the agricultural sector which ensure the food security of all (Singh & Sharma, 2018a; Jyoti & Singh, 2020; Kumar & Singh, 2023). Hence, the ecosystem of water produces food, clean drinking water, entertainment, and recreate products and various species of fishes in the rivers (Pour & Kalashami, 2012; Cosgrove & Loucks, 2015; Kumar et al., 2017). Water and natural resources are vital for humanity (MEA, 2005; Chowdhury & Behera, 2021). So, all countries should give priority to preserve natural resources to increase sustainable development (Singh et al., 2018; Getnet et al., 2022).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Willingness to Pay Ability: The economic ability of individual consumer or person to pay a desire amount to avail a specific quantity of ecosystem services from the supplier or producer.
Climate Change: Variability or variation in weather parameters from mean in a long-term known as climate change.
Water Pollution: Rising contamination in the available water due to rising GHGs emissions, acid rain, fertilizer, chemicals, pesticides and wastage of raw materials.
Water Scarcity: Consistent declining in the per capita availability of ground and surface water.
Ecosystem Services: Goods and services that consumer and producers receive from nature known as ecosystem services.
Implicit Cost of Water: It is the linear sum of medical expenses on water borne diseases, expenditure on water treatment and water payment made by household for availing current water supply.
Economic Value of Water: Monetary value of water which an individual consumer or group of consumers are willing to pay to receive water as per their need.