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

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  • David A. Keiser
  • Joseph S. Shapiro

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.

Suggested Citation

  • David A. Keiser & Joseph S. Shapiro, 2017. "Consequences of the Clean Water Act and the Demand for Water Quality," Working Papers 17-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:17-07
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    H23; H54; H70; Q50; R31;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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