Drinking Water Contamination
See 2004 to make adjustments!
In January 2004, the North Carolina Department of Toxic Substances Control began investigating groundwater contamination in Duplin County, North Carolina. Over the course of the investigation, the Department discovered that runoff from Seaboard Farms' hog operations contaminated drinking water wells. 80 percent of tested wells in Duplin, Onslow and Pender Counties were contaminated with nitrate above the drinking water standard.
The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency order requiring the counties to advise residents not to drink tap water until safe drinking water
could be provided. The emergency order lasted for two weeks.
Before the emergency order 5% of the residents suffered from "moderate" episodes of
gastrointestinal illness. Each of these residents visited the hospital and fully
recovered but lost one week of work. The greatest tragedy was that two residents were hospitalized with severe illnesses
and did not recover.
County wide businesses suffered a 30% loss of one month of "gross retail sales."
The plaintiff in the case, Duplin, Onslow, and Pender County Government, is suing the defendant, Seaboard Farms, Inc., to recover damages
of
Population and Sales
Log Into North Carolina, http://linc.state.nc.us/ (North Carolina Statistics)
Benefit Transfer
King, Dennis M. and Marisa Mazzota, Benefit Transfer Method, Ecosystem Valuation, http://www.ecosystemvaluation.org/benefit_transfer.htm.
Dumas, Schuhmann, and Whitehead, Measuring the Economic Benefits of Water Quality Improvement with
Benefit Transfer: An Introduction for Non-Economists (description and
examples)
Dumas and Whitehead, The Potential Economic Benefits of Integrated and Sustainable Ocean Observation Systems: The Southeast Atlantic Region (an example)
Passive Use Values
Drinking Water Benefits
Value of Statistical Lives
General
Note: This case is hypothetical and some aspects are counterfactual.