Estimating willingness to pay for reduced copper contamination in southwestern Minnesota

The contingent valuation method is applied to determine how much consumers would be willing to pay to reduce copper in their drinking water and what factors influence their willingness to pay (WTP). The annual mean WTP per household was estimated using survey data from nine counties in southwestern Minnesota where copper contamination is high. The annual mean WTP per household varied from a low range of $30.41 to $43.61 for Chippewa County to a high range of $39.79 to $57.06 for Nobles County. The aggregate WTP for all nine counties was estimated to range from $1.66 to $2.38 million. However, the estimated WTP may not be sufficient to pay the cost of providing improved water through public water systems for small communities in southwestern Minnesota.