Influential factors and assessment of WTP for improving water environment in rural areas of Western China: a case study in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

This paper aims to study the personal willingness to pay (WTP) on improving water environment and the influential factors in four typical rural areas of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region where confront non-point-source (NPS) pollution. For this, questionnaire was designed according to the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to investigate residents of different attitude at different ages, based on which the assessment of WTP for improving water environment. Meanwhile, Logistic Regression is employed to analyze the relationship between WTP and geographic information, socio-economic status and environmental attitude. The average pay fees is only 300 Yuan per household for household biogas system, it is far less than expected pay fees (RMB 1050-1550) by policy makers. Topography, income, age, farming scale and environmental attitude of respondents are remarkable correlated with the WTP. The influence of topography and environmental attitude is significant; income and farming scale are positively correlated with the WTP; while age is negatively related to the WTP. The assessment of WTP for improving water environment and its influential factors analysis are important for policy makers and managers involved in water environment improvement in rural China and other developing countries of the world.