ECONOMIC IMPACT OF WATER POLLUTION ON HUMAN HEALTH: A CASE STUDY OF KEHAL, KPK, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The present study analysis the impact of water pollution on human health and the economic burden of illness due to water borne diseases in Union Council Kehal, Abbottabad. Primary data was collected by survey in the targeted area. Two types of data were collected: i). Relative data was collected by solving well organized questionnaires for estimating incident and cost of illness. ii). Water samples were collected from drinking water sources of households. The data showed the presence of water pollutants and incidents of diseases. The cost of illness was calculated by medical cost and its marginal effects. While marginal willingness to pay was calculated by combining the estimated values of workday loss and cost of illness. The results showed that marginal willingness to pay to reduce the impact of sickness is Rs 71.68, while total welfare loss the community is 296,352 PKR per year.