摘要：Following the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), integratedcatchment management plans must be prepared for all river basins in order to achieve "GoodEcological Status" (GES) in all EU waters. This concept is a broader measure of water qualitythan the chemical and biological measures which were previously dominant in EU water policy.The directive also calls for a consideration of the economic costs and benefits of improvements tothe water bodies" ecological status in catchment management plans, along with the introductionof full social cost pricing for water use. In this paper, the Choice Experiment (CE) method ofvaluation is used to estimate the value of improvements in a number of components of ecologicalstatus in the Boyne river catchment in Ireland. The study determines what value the targetedpopulation of the catchment place on the non-market economic benefits of moves towards GES. Inaddition, the effect of various factors of observed individual heterogeneity on choice is explored
