Assessing Economic Benefits of Good Ecological Status in Lakes under the EU Water Framework Directive. Case study report. Norway

Abstract

An internet survey was conducted on 1113 households in Østfold County and southern muni­cipalities of Akershus County in the summer of 2008. The survey focused on households’ recreational use of water bodies and their willingness to pay for improvements in lake ecological status. The main objective of the study was to evaluate at what distance from improved lakes, households willingness to pay falls to zero. This is key to correctly determining how large a population has benefits from measures under the Water Framework Directive, and making correct estimates of total benefits of a programme of measures. Valuation methods aimed at capturing recreational use values and also non-use values. The largest lakes in Østfold in three different catchments (Morsa, Glomma and Halden) were considered, Alternative valuation methods are compared for two lakes in particular in this report (Vestre Vansjø and Storefjorden). The study was the Norwegian case study for the EUFP6 AQUAMONEY research project.