Estimating willingness to pay for improved drinking water quality using averting behavior method with perception measure

This paper suggests an application of an averting behavior method to reconcile inconsistent public activity with objective environmental risk. In Korea, an historically polluted water supply has created citizen resistance to using tap water. Koreans perceive low quality levels for tap water, although objectively measured data show that the pollution levels are lower than the acceptable risk. We hypothesized that the irrational aversion to using tap water is a consequence of inconsistencies between the objectively measured and perceived pollution levels. We introduce the perception averting behavior method, in which we add a perception measure unit to the conventional averting behavior method. We found that the perception measure provided a valid explanation for citizens' aversion to using tap water in Korea.