Browsing by Author "Grand, Linda"
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Item Testing policies for drinking water utilities to reduce non-point source pollution under climate variability(University of Delaware, 2016) Grand, LindaThis research will focus on the challenges faced by drinking water utilities due to extreme weather events. The higher occurrence of extreme weather events due to climate change is expected to lead to increased non-point source pollution from agricultural land. Using experiments with students we study behavioral responses towards various policies that can reduce non-point source pollution. Specifically, we study responses toward ambient (output-based) verses targeted (input-based) subsidies to improve water quality under various weather scenarios. We find behavior changes with the type of subsidy offered due to differences in risk allocation. Under ambient policy, the risk is shared with the entire group while targeted policies involve individual risk. People that are risk-averse tend to prefer input-based policies more because they are given perfect information. Our results suggest both ambient and targeted subsidies work to improve social welfare and decrease pollution. We find that input-based subsidies, that could be implemented with real time sensing technology, are best to minimize the economic and social cost to the drinking water utility. In addition, the results of the experiment show that as weather variability increases and there is a greater likelihood of extreme events, both policies become more effective, resulting in lesser pollution. ☐ Key Words: Nonpoint source pollution, Laboratory economic experiment, Extreme WeatherItem Testing Policies That Use Continuous Nutrient Sensing by Drinking Water Utilities to Reduce Non-Point Source Pollution under Climate Variability(Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE., 2017-03) Grand, Linda; Fooks, Jacob R.; Messer, Kent D.More-frequent extreme weather events due to climate change are expected to increase operation costs for drinking water utilities, in part from increased non-point source (NPS) pollution from agricultural land. High-frequency, high-quality sensors can help utilities better monitor water quality and utilities could use this information in programs that subsidize upstream producers to improve the quality of water they receive. Such a subsidy could be based on ambient pollution—paying producers directly based on their pollution abatement—or targeted production—paying producers to implement specific practices that reduce pollution. This distinction has implications for the structure of contracts, distribution of payments, and, most notably, allocations of damage from extreme weather events to producers and the utility. Under an ambient-based subsidy, risks associated with weather are shared by producers. Under a production-targeted subsidy, the utility bears risk posed by severe weather. We use an economic experiment involving operational data from a municipal water utility to study producer responses to a theoretically equivalent ambient-based and targeted subsidy to improve water quality under various weather scenarios. We find that the level of risk associated with weather variability affects producers’ behaviors in response to subsidies. The results suggest that both types of subsidies lead to improved social welfare and decreased pollution and that production-based subsidies, which can be implemented using real-time sensing technologies, minimize the utility’s economic cost and the social cost of damage. We also find that both types of subsidies become more effective as weather variability and the likelihood of extreme events increase. Key Points: • By offering subsidies to upstream producers for watershed protection, drinking water utilities can decrease their costs. • High-quality data from continuous water-quality sensors can increase the effectiveness of subsidies by targeting individual producers • As the likelihood of extreme weather events increases, both ambient pollution and targeted production subsidies become more effectiveItem Understanding and Overcoming the Barriers for Cost-Effective Conservation(Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE., 2016-03) Grand, Linda; Messer, Kent D.; Allen, William, IIIDespite extensive research demonstrating the benefits of applying cost effective conservation techniques, such as optimization, a large gap remains between the evidence from research and the actions of professions as they design and implement conservation programs. This study examines this gap between the research evidence and the conservation community’s practice through an international survey of conservation professionals who are familiar with cost-effective conservation techniques. The results show that the vast majority of survey respondents viewed cost-effectiveness as a virtue but ultimately do not consider it as important as other program design criteria. These results suggest the advocates of cost-effective conservation need to address concerns about fairness and transparency and remedying gaps in the knowledge and expertise of professionals involved. Finally, the lack of incentive to conservation professionals to change their practices is a challenge that calls for public pressure and encouragement for experimentation and evidence-based policy to improve the cost effectiveness of conservation efforts.