Valuing benefits from wastewater treatment and reuse using contingent valuation methodology

This study aims first to elicit residents' Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the provision of central wastewater treatment and second farmers' WTP for recycled water. A case study on a rural and costal tourist area is presented, located at the Municipality of Kissamos in northwest Crete. In the context of contingent valuation methodology, members from 450 households were interviewed, face to face. The mean WTP for the provision of wastewater treatment was € 21.02 to be paid as a surcharge on the quarterly water bill. Farmers' mean WTP for recycled water, originating from wastewater treatement was 61.2% the price of fresh water, which corresponds to € 0.0872. 84.70% of them would use the oil produced after irrigating with recycled water.