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Environmental benefits and costs of conserving Layawan Watershed for sustainable domestic water supply in Oroquieta City, Philippines
Thesis Abstract:
The sustainability of domestic water supply from the Layawan Watershed in Oroquieta City critically depends on past and present conservation activities and the availability of funds from stakeholders such as households, communities, and government agencies. This study determined the willingness to pay (WTP) of households in Oroquieta City to finance conservation projects in Layawan Watershed to ensure the sustainability of their domestic water supply. A household survey of randomly selected 278 respondents was conducted using the dichotomous choice referendum format.
The results of the Heckman’s two-stage analysis for the parametric estimation of mean WTP yielded the values of PHP 4, PHP 6, and PHP 7 per month for mandatory, voluntary, and pooled data sets, respectively. The value of PHP 4 per month for the mandatory scheme indicates that each household is willing to pay this amount if all users are required to pay. The higher value of PHP 6 per month for the voluntary payment means that the respondents favor this monthly payment scheme if the users contribute voluntarily. The pooled value of PHP 7 per month is the combined figure from both mandatory and voluntary schemes.
The households (as users of domestic water) are willing to contribute funds for conserving Layawan Watershed as supported by the total WTP of Oroquieta City’s population that ranged from PHP 117,845 to PHP 471,380 in five years, discounted at 6 percent.
Variables that significantly affected the WTP of the respondents were bid level, income, educational attainment, religion, agreement to payment vehicle, civil status, age, membership to an environmental organization, experience in making donations, and environmental awareness.