Health Costs of Arsenic Contamination of Drinking Water in Assam, India

Jayashree Chowdhury, Ratul Mahanta () and Hiranya Nath
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Jayashree Chowdhury: Department of Economics, Handique Girls’ College
Ratul Mahanta: Department of Economics, Gauhati University

No 1503, Working Papers from Sam Houston State University, Department of Economics and International Business

Abstract: This paper estimates the health costs of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Assam, India, where 0.72 million people are affected. Applying the Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) procedure to data collected through a primary survey of 355 households in 2013, it estimates three structural equations to determine health costs due to arsenic contamination. The estimates show that the annual health cost of a 1 microgram increase in arsenic concentration is about INR 4 per household. Furthermore, if the level of arsenic concentration is reduced to the safe limit of 50 microgram per liter, the annual welfare gain for a household is estimated to be INR 862 (USD 14). Projecting these figures to the entire arsenic-affected population of Assam, the annual health cost is estimated to be about INR 0.76 million (USD 0.01 million) and the welfare gain from reducing the level of arsenic concentration to the safe limit is estimated to be INR 153 million (USD 2.49 million).The results also indicate that these health costs and welfare gains vary significantly across different levels of arsenic concentration and across districts. Finally, the paper draws policy implications for providing safe drinking water in Assam.

Date: 2015-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Health costs of arsenic contamination of drinking water in Assam, India (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:shs:wpaper:1503

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