The majority of Vermont residents would pay to protect the state’s water quality, according to a University of Vermont survey released last month. But the public’s interest in paying to conserve water falls short of estimates pegging cleanup efforts at hundreds of millions of dollars.
The UVM study found residents would pay at least $40 per year through an increase to the state’s motor vehicle registration fee and water utility fee. Together, the state could raise $15.9 million annually for cleanup and conservation efforts, the report found.
“Is it enough? No,” said Chris Koliba, a professor at the University of Vermont and contributor to the report. “As a common asset, clean water is actually a lot more valuable to us than we give it credit for.”
But Koliba is optimistic that Vermonters’ apparent willingness to pay to protect the state’s waterways is a step in the right direction. The state could leverage the fees and use federal grants and private philanthropy to help make up the rest, he said.
He said Vermonters are recognizing the ecological value of clean water for wildlife, drinking water, recreation and irrigation. Scientists say pollution has spurred toxic blue green algae blooms that have killed fish. Blooms have caused the health department has closed beaches. Most recently, state officials recognized that algae blooms could be a problem for drinking water supplies in Lake Champlain.
“We tend to take clean water and clean air for granted. Just a generation ago, we were dumping raw sewage into our waterways,” Koliba said. “At some point back in the 60s, we had a wake-up call and said we don’t have to swim in our own filth.”
EPA has acknowledged their 2002 total maximum daily load targets did not meet several standards under the Clean Water Act. Now they are writing a new one with the state. The state submitted a cleanup proposal this spring but the federal agency said the state must still do more to meet targets aimed at reducing the amount of phosphorous entering the lake. The EPA will issue a final order next spring, officials say.
David Mears, the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, says the state is working to come up with a way to address the phosphorus reduction problem.
Given that 95 percent of residents say they consider water quality at least slightly important, according to a previous 2013 UVM report, Mears said the state has a responsibility to take action.
“That is really encouraging,” he said. “If we don’t really figure out how to effectively respond to that as a state government, we will have really missed an opportunity.”
Advocates, including Conservation Law Foundation, have since applauded Shumlin’s apparent commitment to the phosphorous load targets. Lawmakers last year ditched efforts to raise revenues for cleanup because the governor’s office opposed new fees. EPA won’t accept the state’s proposed plan without a local source of revenue.
The report shows that not only do nearly all Vermonters want clean water, but most are willing to pay for it. According to the 2013 report, residents believed “protecting water quality” was more important than “fighting poverty and hunger in Vermont.”
“We are gaining ever more sensitive to the fact that [Lake Champlain] in particular is a world-class gem that is endangered,” Koliba said. “And if we’re not careful we might lose it.”
The report shows education level, party orientation and time of residence are among the strongest predictors of a person’s willingness to pay. College graduates, new Vermont residents and Democrats are among those willing to pay the most.
The distance residents live from Lake Champlain did not affect a resident’s willingness to pay fees, although people in several rural counties in Vermont were less interested in doing so. Koliba said that reluctance is likely linked to income and ability to pay.
Residents in Franklin County, an agricultural county along the northern section of Lake Champlain, on average would pay less than $40 per year on cleanup efforts. The county, however, has become the strategic target of water quality efforts aimed at reducing manure runoff from farms. Manure runoff from farms accounts for 40 percent of the lake’s total phosphorus loading, according to the state.
“They have the most to gain and the most to lose as a result of this,” Koliba said. “At this point, we’ve got to move together as a state.”
Mears said residents showed a high level of concern when he visited St. Albans Bay and Missisquoi Bay late this summer when the areas were hard hit by algae blooms.
The Shumlin administration will present lawmakers with a funding proposal for restoring Lake Champlain’s water quality. The administration has recommended increasing the state’s fertilizer tax and placing a fee on the development of parking lots, buildings, driveways and barnyards. The state wants to create a disincentive for spreading excess manure and building impervious surfaces, both of which pollute the lake.
The researchers called a random sample of 2,013 household landline telephone numbers between March 10 and 25, 2014. A total sample of 576 was used for the survey. Before respondents answered any questions, the caller told them about how nutrients will degrade the lake’s water quality without action and that funding is not yet available. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.
