We investigate the impact of beer on mortality during the Industrial Revolution in 18th century England. Due to the brewing process, beer represented an improvement over available water sources during this period prior to the widespread understanding of the link between water quality and human...

We study how spillovers from water pollution cleanup in the Ganges affect social welfare in an aggregate economy consisting of Kanpur and Varanasi, two cities through which this river flows. We view pollution cleanup in both cities as a local public good and point out that, if Kanpur cleans up...

The rise of shale gas and tight oil development has triggered a major debate about hydraulic fracturing (HF). In an effort to bring light to HF practices and their potential risks to water quality, many U.S. states have mandated disclosure for HF wells and the fluids used. We employ this setting...

Natural and anthropogenic activities have proven to be the main sources of contaminants in groundwater. Hence, the need for continuous evaluation of the controlling factors of groundwater mineralization for monitoring purposes. The study assessed the controls of the groundwater mineralization in...

We investigate the impact of groundwater contamination on educational outcomes in India. Our study leverages variations in the geographical coverage and timing of construction of safe government piped water schemes to identify the effects of exposure to contaminants. Using self-collected survey...

Standard water affordability measures that only account for expenditure on piped water are unlikely to adequately capture the situation of all consumers in developing countries, who often experience water service quality issues and must rely on coping strategies. We construct and compare a...

Reactive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution in Germany is mainly caused by production of cattle meat and milk, which is mostly consumed domestically. This pollution comes at a high external costs not yet addressed by current policies. We explore scenarios where reduced domestic cattle...

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries have made notable progress in reducing income inequality; however, the extent to which water and sanitation may foster inequalities remains unclear. In this sector, disparities emerge as lower-income households may encounter reduced access to clean...

In recent decades, India's environment has been severely compromised by riverine pollution combined with large-scale dams and exacerbated by diversion for irrigation. Most prominent among the rivers so affected has been the Ganges and its tributaries in northern India, which for Hindus include...

Human activity is almost invariably the cause of groundwater contamination. Groundwater is particularly at risk in locations with a high population density and extensive human usage of the land. Almost any action that could result in the purposeful or unintentional release of chemicals or wastes...

In this research note, we focus on a representative, leather producing tannery in Kanpur, India, and shed light on two specific questions that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been studied previously in the literature. First, what is the deadweight loss from water pollution caused by this...

This study conducted an in-depth assessment of municipal water quality management in the Zamboanga Peninsula Region of the Philippines. It aims to identify the key challenges and opportunities in ensuring safe and sustainable water resources for local communities. Through a comprehensive...

Over five million people in south western Uganda depend on River Rwizi for some of their water needs. In recent years, the river has come under huge pressure from a number of challenges including pollution from urban wastes, destruction of its water catchment area and wetlands. The river's water...

Catalytic ozonation is an effective technology widely used in advanced treatment to remove refractory organics from wastewater. Meanwhile, it is also a highly energy-consuming technology, usually accounting for 30%~40% of the total electricity consumption of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)....

One of the global problems in recent years is shortage of appropriate water resources due to increasing demand, seasonal rainfall, and depletion of groundwater reserves, leading to water scarcity. Indonesia, especially Jakarta, is often affected by flooding and waterlogging due to high rainfall...

Substantial evidence demonstrates that contaminated irrigation water is a primary source of fungal and bacterial diseases, which can pose significant challenges in pathology. Poor water quality is a source of contamination in the field which can also be extended to public health issues. An...

Drinking water source area is a weak link in water resources management, but pollution accidents occur from time to time. Most of the prediction models currently developed are not suitable for drinking water source area, so a new model has been established. This model coupled the GIS Platform...

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges of microcontaminants have been shown to have negative impacts on freshwater streams, highlighting the need for accurate mapping of wastewater-derived contamination in water bodies across Europe (EU). In this study, we present a fast and open-source...

Castanhão is a multipurpose reservoir located in the semiarid region of Brazil. From 2012 to 2019, a severe drought occurred in the area, leading to a significant degradation of the water quality in the reservoir, spanning from oligotrophic to eutrophic/hypereutrophic state. In addition, this...

Human health and ecological security are vulnerable to groundwater pollution at landfill sites. It is essential to monitor groundwater quality downstream of landfills, but evaluating the pollution plumes within a multi-component contaminated aquifer remains a challenge. In order to track the...

Changes in river water quality often follow typical trajectories characterized by sequential phases of degradation and recovery induced by different management interventions, typically achieved with combinations of legislative and technological interventions. However, the key question about the...

This study quantitatively reviews the hedonic literature examining surface water quality to assess how attributes of the commodity, housing market, and methodological choices lead to variation in the significance and expected sign of the estimated property value effects. Using meta-analysis of...

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China must be upgraded to meet new discharge standards, but this incurs both economic and environmental costs and benefits. To select the optimal upgrade pathway, we developed ten upgrade paths based on two common decision-making scenarios for WWTP upgrade...

While the Xiangjiang (XJ) River acts as an inland drinking water source, it may experience microplastics emissions originating from Changsha (CS) City. The aim of this study was to characterize the occurrence and distribution of microplastics in the XJ River during both the flooding and dry...

Some plants may thrive in polluted environments, accumulating high concentrations of metal/loids in their organs. This study investigates for the first time the bioaccumulation and translocation of metal/loids in Typha domingensis spontaneously grown in extremely Fe-rich substrates (38-44% of...

In China, large lakes and reservoirs usually span several administrative areas; therefore, they are co-managed by many government agencies. Such segmented governance generates a ``Tragedy of the Commons'' type problem, under which water bodies with more administrative areas involved tend to be...

We provide a theoretical framework to analyze how climate change influences the Ganges and how this influence affects pollution in the river caused by tanneries in Kanpur, India. We focus on two tanneries, A and B, that are situated on the same bank of the Ganges in Kanpur. Both produce leather...

This study investigates the impact of freshwater ecosystem services (ESS) on water allocation within a comprehensive water economy. The ESS generated by stream flows, surface water stocks, and groundwater stocks are distinguished and their effects on water allocation and pricing are analyzed....

We show including quantitative environmental targets for bureaucratic promotion incentivizes government officials to enforce environmental regulation but at significant economic costs. Taking advantage of the gradual expansion of China’s water quality performance review (WQPR) over time and...

Developing countries have increased sanitation investment to reduce diarrheal diseases. However, the direct health benefits of latrine construction can be offset by water pollution externalities due to poor treatment of fecal sludge. I estimate these negative externalities of a sanitation policy...

The absence of temporally consistent data on nonpoint source pollution has long hindered the efforts to quantify the environmental and economic impacts of intensive farming in China. We compile a unique satellite-derived panel dataset to investigate the impacts of cropland areas on the outbreak...

The impact of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) on surface water quality is a growing concern in Ghana. Issues of water scarcity, shortages and closure of treatment plants is on the increase in the Atewa Enclave mainly due to the antagonizing effect of ASM Land Use (LU) on the Birim River....

Cooperation amongst natural resource users is key to sustainably managing ecosystems. This paper focuses on the impact that livestock farming can have on the quality of a water body and investigates farmers’ willingness to cooperate to maintain a given quality level under two different sources...

How do firms' efforts to prevent harm to third parties change as they approach, enter, and then exit bankruptcy? To help answer this, I investigate a panel of roughly 350 US firms, all of which declare bankruptcy and are regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for pollutants they release into...