MPCA's
Environment magazine Summer Issue This
issue of the MPCA's Environment magazine has an interesting discussion on
page 16 that discusses the cost of cleaning up a lake vs. preventing its
degradation in the first place. It also mentions studies completed
that show people are willing to pay to protect their lakes' water quality.
Lakeshore
Property Values and Water QualityThis
study, from the NRCS website, is most interesting! It is a study of
lake water quality's effect on lakeshore property values, completed in 2003
by Bemidji State University and the Mississippi Headwaters Board.
They were able to correlate the rise and fall of property values with the
increase and decrease iin Secchi depths. One lake (Leech) showed that
a one meter increase in the Secchi depth, from 3m to 4m, would raise the
property values by $424/frontage foot! So a 150 ft. lot price would
rise $63,600! There was an even larger effect in the other direction.
A one meter decrease in the Secchi depth would cause a property value drop
of $594/frontage foot.
