VALUATION OF WATER QUALITY IN LIVESTOCK REGIONS: AN APPLICATION TO RURAL WATERSHEDS IN IOWA

This paper investigates rural residents' perceptions of the risk to water quality from large confinement facilities and their willingness to pay to delay nitrate contamination from these facilities. Rural residents are concerned about the environmental impact of confinement facilities and are willing to pay as much as $82 annually to delay nitrate contamination in their water for 20 years. These contingent valuation results are consistent with the result obtained in similar studies that used hedonic valuation methods.