AQUAMONEY CASE STUDY REPORT - VU University, Institute for ...

Option A Option B Status Quo
Flood
frequency
Once every 25 Once every 25 Once every 5
years
years
years
Good Very good Moderate
Water quality
Increase
water bill
€ 3
€ 10
in
No additional
(25 Cent /(83 Cent /
payment
month) month)
Fig.3. Example choice card
I choose:
(Please tick as Option A Option B Neither
appropriate)
Flood frequency was defined as the probability to cause damage (financial losses) to
communities, agricultural and industrial uses in the areas downstream of the river restoration and
re-naturalization measures, with the four levels: 5, 25, 50 and 100 years. The lowest level for
both attributes, water quality and flood frequency corresponded to the status quo. The monetary
attribute payment vehicle was specified as an increase in the respondents’ water bill to fund the
water management programme (in the form of an annual contribution on top of the water bill).
The payment levels used in the choice experiment were equivalent amounts of 3, 10, 30 and 50 €
expressed in Romanian Lei. In order to combine the levels of the attributes into a number of
options a fractional factorial design was used. 32 choice sets were assigned to 8 blocks such that
each respondent was confronted with a randomly selected four choice set.
3.1.2. Design of the contingent valuation scenarios
In the study, the contingent valuation method consisted of asking respondents about their
willingness to pay for increasing the size of natural areas along the river - from the actual
situation to an ecologically enhanced situation. Respondents were told that, with restoration
measures, wetlands and forests could be connected to the Danube river which would lead to a
more natural landscape with water flowing not only through the main channel but also through
adjacent creeks and ponds (Box 1). Respondents were told that currently about 20 % (210 km 2 )
of the former wetlands are still in a natural shape. It was also mentioned that the reference state
of the area (1056 km 2 ) contained a large number of shallow lakes, ponds and marshes, linked to
8