Can Contingent Valuation be Used to Measure the in Situ Value of Groundwater on the North China Plain?

The over-exploited groundwater resources on the North China Plain have caused ecological problems, including lowering of the groundwater table, enlarging the depression zone and land subsidence. The contingent valuation method, a technique that reveals peoples’ preferences, is applied to measure the in situ value of groundwater in order to provide policy makers information on protection and restoration of groundwater in the region. It was found that only 28% of households were willing to pay some amount of money to preserve ground water. The estimated mean willingness to pay for each household was found to be only 1.26 Yuan/m³ annually. The in situ non-use value of groundwater subject to over-exploitation was estimated to be 0.014 Yuan /m³. These amounts are insignificant when compared to the cost of protecting and restoring the groundwater, which are several hundreds times higher than the estimated willingness to pay. While some discrepancy was expected, the extent of this difference was unexpected. Thus, it would appear that the contingent valuation method does not provide an adequate estimate of the in situ value of groundwater on the North China Plain. It is hypothesized that one reason for this result may be the very low income and education levels of respondents in this area. An integrated economic-ecological modeling technique is recommended as an alternative option to the contingent valuation method in this case.