Determinants and Values of Willingness to Pay for Water Quality Improvement: Insights from Chia Lagoon, Malawi

Abstract

Water resources in the Chia lagoon in Malawi experience a possible threat to sustainability. Communities are seeking alternatives to improve water quality in the lagoon. This study quantified the communities’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) and their influencing factors while using contingent valuation (CV) techniques. A wide range of data collection procedures, including focus group discussions, key informant interviews, field observation, and CV survey, were employed. A sample of 300 households was randomly selected. The CV results showed that 57.4% of the households were willing to pay. The monthly individual aggregate WTP amount ranged from MK696.83 (US$0.95) to MK81697 (US$111.38), and on average MK7870.45 (US$10.73), generating aggregate annual values ranging from MK6, 689,568 (US$9126.29) to MK784, 294,080 (US$1,069,978), and on average MK75,556,320 (US$103,078) (ceteris paribus). Logistic regression model demonstrated a significant (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05) relationship between demographic (gender, age, literacy level), social-economic (land ownership, main agriculture water source, and income), and institutional (civic education and social network, extension, institutional trust, household socio trust) factors and WTP. The findings from this study provide significant clues for further research and baseline information for local government and communities in the development of more effective and holistic approaches for improving water quality in natural ecosystems.

Valuing Households’ Willingness to Pay for Water Transfers from the Irrigation Sector: A Case Study of the City of Seville (Southern Spain)

“…This implies that the second question depends on the answer obtained in the first question, and much more information is obtained from the individual than with the single-bounded approach, thus implying a more complex econometric analysis. Recent studies, such as those by Lopez-Feldman [62], Mesa-Jurado et al [26], Islam et al [61], and Makwinja et al [63] have used this method in various contexts but with similar research purposes. Subsequently, the model used in this study is briefly described.…”

“…After the initial bid, the second bid price offered is higher or lower depending on the answer obtained to the first bid, as explained in previous sub-section. Similar groups of questions are used in previous recent studies, such as Martín-Ortega et al [38], Makwinja et al [63], Jian et al [65], and Asibey et al [66], among others.…”

Does Paying for Aquatic Resources Matter? A Case of an African Riverine Ecosystem

“…Prasher et al [19] and Do and Bennett [20] added that distance between the users and the natural resource can significantly influence one's WTP-thus, the closer the user to the natural resource, the higher the WTP. Other factors that have been documented to have a positive influence on the WTP include educational level, age, and knowledge about natural resource [19,21].…”

Determinants of Household Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Supply: A Case Study of Baringo and Samburu Counties, Kenya

“…However, our results could not establish a statistically significant relationship this insignificant finding is consistent with (Gulyani et al, 2005b). Several studies have shown a correlation between the between income and payment for water services, wealthier households are more likely to pay for connection to piped water supply and other social services while poorer households rely on alternative sources such as boreholes, dams, rivers, streams and rain water (Kanyoka et al, 2008;Makwinja et al, 2019;Rotich et al, 2018). Other studies have also found an insignificant relationships associated with underreporting of actual household income (Rahman et al, 2017).…”