Economic Costs of Eutrophication in The Laurentian Great Lakes Basin in Canada

Secondary data are extracted by doing a large literature review where we search through relevant published articles, government reports and websites, conference presentations, and unpublished work. Based on these data, we calculate the costs of eutrophication to each impact category with certain assumption on the degree of eutrophication. Different data sources are used to account for calculation uncertainty (we provide a minimum and a maximum of the estimates according to different sources). In most cases, we first calculate the total value of a specific ecosystem service, then get an estimate of eutrophication days in the area, and finally compute the degree the ecoservice is affected by eutrophication, i.e. the economic cost of eutrophication. When the total value of the ecosystem service cannot be retrieved, we use the costs of using substitute products due to deteriorated water, e.g., costs of bottled water for water treatment costs, and government budgets to recover endangered aquatic species for biodiversity costs. Further, assuming the costs to each individual lake is proportional to the population in each lake basin, we allocate the costs to each of the four great lakes in Canada.

This data set is collected to support the project titled “Lake Futures: Enhancing Adaptive Capacity and Resilience of Lakes and Their Watersheds: Work Package 4". Lake Futures is a Pillar 3 project under the Global Water Futures Program funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The main goal of this research is to identify ecosystem services that are negatively affected by water quality deterioration in the Great Lakes Basin on the Canadian side, and further quantify the monetary costs induced by the worsened water quality. We identify and categorize the direct costs into seven groups: costs on property value, recreation, tourism, water treatment, biodiversity, human health, and commercial fishing. The cost estimates inform us how much it will cost us if we do not invest in solutions to promote the recovery of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Considering that climate change and higher temperature can increase algal growth and nutrient runoff, eutrophication might become an even larger problem if actions are not taken immediately. Our research can help the society understand the gravity and urgency of the issue and take appropriate measures to restore and improve the water quality in the Great Lakes Basin and provide better services to local residents and tourists.

Brouwer, R., and Lui, H. (2019). Economic Costs of Eutrophication in The Laurentian Great Lakes Basin in Canada. Waterloo, Canada: Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN). Unpublished Data.

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