Willingness to pay for water quality improvement of Mayur River in Khulna

The Mayur river in Khulna is one of the most polluted rivers in Bangladesh. This study tries to figure out the willingness to pay (WTP) for an improvement in Mayur river's water quality of the people associated with the river and the factors influencing the estimated WTP. Information obtained from 198 respondents of four different river bank areas namely Shonadanga, Gollamari, Mohammadnagar and Sachibunia of Khulna district are analyzed in this study. In light of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), a double bounded dichotomous choice model is used to discover the influential factors of respondents' WTP. Around eighty three percent of the respondents said they would like to take part in the Mayur river's water quality improvement program. Although the respondents' preferences for improving the quality of the water show variability, the mostly preferred scenario consists of the third highest improvements of river related attributes among the four improvement scenarios presented to them. Among various predictors, the respondents' years of schooling, monthly household income and living distance from the river are the variables that have statistically significant effect to the change in WTP for improvement program. The mean WTP of the respondents is around BDT 312 (USD 2.57), though the socially and economically optimal tariff rate is BDT 300 (USD 2.47). Only a few of the respondents expressed protest responses and genuine zero responses against this water quality improvement program. In summary, this study finds that majority of the residents close to the river are willing to improve the river water with an affordable cost.