A Benefit-Cost Framework to Evaluate the Impact of Legislation Supporting Reduction of Agricultural Pollution at the Watershed Level

This paper introduces the development of a methodology to conduct benefit-cost analyses of management scenarios that aim at reducing agricultural pollution at the watershed level. The proposed methodology, which relies on benefit transfer, was integrated into the distributed hydrological system GIBSI. A case study focusing on evaluation of water quality benefits (i.e.,aesthetic and visual uses) of mandatory nutrient management plans in the municipality of St-Patrice-de-Beaurivage in the Chaudiere River basin, Quebec, Canada, was used to demonstrate the potential of the methodology. Improved water quality provided for an average annual gain of 29,107 days adding up to $1,135,160 in total benefits. Preliminary results were representative of the 1982–1985 meteorological series used for the simulations. Application of the nutrient management plan required treatment of 98,346 m3 of liquid manure for a total cost of $1,180,150. Since benefits and costs were of the same order of magnitude, these preliminary results showed that this environmental legislation has the potential to be economically feasible.

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