ABSTRACT:
Nitrate pollution of groundwater had no statistically significant effect on the price of residential property in a study in Portage County, Wisconsin. These results, however, do not mean that groundwater pollution has no cost. Sellers may be forced to wait longer to sell to a buyer who is uninformed or simply does not care about nitrate pollution, so the cost of pollution may be denominated in time rather than sale price. A closer examination of market processes suggests that sellers may also absorb pollution costs by drilling new wells or purchasing filters in response to demands from realtors, lenders, or buyers. Groundwater pollution costs do not appear in property prices but are likely absorbed in other ways.
Footnotes
Patricia Malone is extension resource agent, Trempealeau County, White Hall, Wisconsin, 54773, and formerly was a graduate research assistant, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Richard Barrows is professor of agricultural economics and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 53706.
- Copyright 1990 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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