Abstract:
Poor water quality in public water bodies caused by several reasons mainly due to a lack of efficient WWM system and sufficient financial support. Polluter pays principle has long been a promising strategy to help improving water quality in pubic water bodies in Thailand. However, WW charge has not yet been practically levied. This research ains to evaluate factors affecting residents' preferences on WTPs for water quality improvement. Three different characteristic cities were selected as case studies. The technique applied to estimate WTPs is CVM to reveal key factors influencing WTP decision as well as WTP pay-out level. The result has evidenced that cities with different characteristics have factors influencing WTPs differently. However, a common factor of all city is, ones who perceive that their houses are located in the WW service area, are more likely to pay for WW charge in the higher amount than the others who do not reside within service area or uncertain whether their house are covered in the service area. As a case study, Pattaya (coastal city) has the highest rate of WW charge pay-out level followed by Bangkok (urbanised city) and Tha Rae (rural city) respectively. Key factors influencing WTPs as well as range of WTP for WW charge identified in this research could help supporting strategic planners to design suitably pragmatic WWM schemes and approaches for enhancing sustainable WWM in different context cities in Thailand and other countries.
