ESTIMATE HOUSHOLD’S WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR IMPROVED TAP WATER QUALITY IN DUHOK PROVINCE

Clean tap water is the general problem facing households in Duhok province due to the poor infrastructure in the tap water supply system. This paper deals with a contingent valuation method (CVM) of improvement in the drinking water quality, based on the household’s perception of the tap water quality and relevant health risk avoidance behavior. It contains different factors to analyze, such as factors that determine the household’s willingness to pay(WTP) for recovering the quality of tap water. As well as individual avoidance expenditure undertaken by the household’s to prevent health risk from the tap water consumption. A survey has been collected from 300 participants in Duhok province (Duhok Polytechnic University). The results present the household’s satisfaction of payment to recover the quality of tap water. The main results are: about 58% of the respondents are willing to pay, and 42% are not willing to pay for improving water quality. In addition, the results of the regression showed that two factors affect willingness to pay; both are knowledge about water quality and avoidance behavior.