Social benefits of improving water infrastructure in South Korea: upgrading sewage treatment plants

A sewage treatment plant is considered an undesirable facility because of public concerns about odor, hygiene, and lowered house prices in the neighborhood. In South Korea, many aging sewage treatment plants need to be upgraded because they show inadequate performance on the removal of major pollutants. However, issues involved in such upgrades include social conflicts between the local government and residents, and economic feasibility. Examinations of social acceptability that include economic analyses are needed in order to fulfill social demand for upgrading the sewage treatment plants while simultaneously guaranteeing efficiency and minimizing social costs. This study investigates the social benefits of expanding and modernizing sewage treatment plants in South Korea using the contingent valuation method. Results show that Korean households, on average, are willing to pay 36,340 KRW (33.25 USD) per year for upgrading sewage treatment plants. About 47.73% of the project costs can be covered by the social benefits the Korean households enjoy. This study suggests that the Korean government needs to consider estimated social benefits in determining the scale and timeline of upgrade projects. The results of this study may help with stable implementation of upgrade projects for sewage treatment plants.