Eutrophication has been commonly
acknowledged as a typical problem of the Baltic Sea, but
it is also emerging in Finnish inland waters. As
municipal sources of nutrients have been addressed by
enhancing waste water treatment, the pressure has
focused to agriculture along with the adoption of the
EU- Water Framework Directive, which aims to
improve surface water quality to “good ecological
status” by 2015. The implementation of the directive will
likely affect water recreation behavior and benefits. In
this study we modeled water recreation participation
and water quality econometrically using a hurdle model
for three activities: swimming, fishing and boating. In
addition, we estimated the consumer surplus for a water
recreation day using a travel cost approach. We found
that close-to-home water quality affects swimming and
fishing behavior positively, and that for a 1-meter
improvement in water clarity, consumer surplus for
swimmers would increase at a range between 32 to 97
million Euros, and for fishers by 43 to 130 million Euros.
In comparison with previously estimated costs of
decreasing agricultural nutrient flow to the Gulf of
Finland, we found that net benefits may be positive.
