The economic cost of wetland destruction

Wetlands are often refereed to as the ‘kidney of the river’, but what is the value of the water filtration they provide, and what is the cost of wetland destruction? This paper determines the economic value of wetlands for water filtration. It demonstrates that wetlands are of considerable economic value, even where the volume of water filtered is in excess of that required for domestic consumption. It argues that if legislation required those who destroy natural wetlands to replace the water filtration process the wetlands once provided, it would be necessary to construct water filtration plants at significant cost.