Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality

David A. Keiser and Joseph Shapiro

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: Since the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act, government and industry have invested over $1 trillion to abate water pollution, or $100 per person-year. Over half of U.S. stream and river miles, however, still violate pollution standards. We use the most comprehensive set of files ever compiled on water pollution and its determinants, including 50 million pollution readings from 170,000 monitoring sites, to study water pollution's trends, causes, and welfare consequences. We have three main findings. First, water pollution concentrations have fallen substantially since 1972, though were declining at faster rates before then. Second, the Clean Water Act's grants to municipal wastewater treatment plants caused some of these declines. Third, the grants' estimated effects on housing values are generally smaller than the grants' costs.

Keywords: H23; H54; H70; Q50; R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 91 pages
Date: 2017-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2017/CES-WP-17-07.pdf First version, 2017 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality (2019)
Working Paper: Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality (2018)
Working Paper: Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality (2017)
Working Paper: Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality (2017)
Working Paper: Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-07

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