Valuing the Costs and Benefits of Improved Wastewater Management: An Economic Valuation Resource Guide for the Wider Caribbean Region - CEP Technical Report 92

This report is intended to serve as a comprehensive resource guide for conducting an economic analysis for the main research question – a comparison of the costs of investing in improved domestic wastewater management with the benefits to ecosystems and human health. The report is divided into two parts and three annexes:  Part I (this summary) provides an introduction to the study, the challenges associated with wastewater management in the Wider Caribbean Region, an overview of the proposed economic valuation approach for comparing the costs and benefits of improved wastewater management, and brief technical summaries of results from the three pilot sites.  Part II provides guidance on conducting either a qualitative multi-criteria decision analysis or a quantitative benefit-cost analysis, based on data availability for the site of interest. This provides the reader with a recommended method for implementing a comparison of the costs and benefits of potential future investments in wastewater treatment.  Annex 1 provides the “Characterization Form” which provides a structure for collecting and organizing information to be used in the comparison of costs and benefits.  Annex 2 provides supplementary reference materials.