Valuation of water purification service of Renukawetland, India: A Ramsar site

Abstract

Wetlands are very important ecosystems from the ecological, productivity and conservation perspective. Economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by wetlandsquantifies the various benefits derived from wetlands and puts a value on their conservation. One such wetland of importance is the Renuka wetland, which is a natural wetland located in the Western Himalayas, in the State of Himachal Pradesh of India. The article aims to assess and evaluate the wetland for its water purification service. The study is based on multisource data and conventional evaluation method. The results show that the average depth of the Renuka wetland is 6.01 m and average volume was determined as 1072530.176 m3. The economic value of water purification service for Renuka wetland is estimated to be INR 31.9 million(0.44 million USD) thus identifying the Renuka wetland as a significant healthy ecosystem. The water purification value itself advocates its proper management and conservation.

Keywords

• valuation
• water purification service
• replacement cost method
• modified normalized difference water index
• wetland