Contingent valuation of first-time sewerage provision in south-east England

Section 101A of the Water Industry Act 1991 requires that sewerage undertak ers provide a public sewer to replace private wastewater systems if certain conditions are met. These include identification of pollution and amenity problems attributable to the private systems and economic justification of public sewer provision. Economic justification necessitates that the costs and the benefits of public sewer provision are compared. An (iv) environmen tal valuation study, using the contingent valuation method, has been carrie d out in three locations in south-east England to provide the average monet ary value of the benefits accruing to households with unsatisfactory privat e systems. A statistical analysis of the survey-response data has yielded a monetary value which can be used in the assessment of the benefits of firs t-time public sewerage schemes.