Public defence in Water and Environmental Engineering, Lic.Sc. (Tech.) Virpi Lehtoranta

Research on benefits informs regional water management 

Freshwater management in the EU requires members states to achieve good water status by 2027. In Finland, this target is a challenge for operators (industries and landowners), planners and decision-makers, as water status has not improved significantly over the past 12 years. The planned actions have been voluntary for many operators, and even where implemented, progress has been slow, measures too few, and their geographic distribution inefficient. 

Markets (price mechanisms) do not reflect all improvements in water quality, recreation and biodiversity that water management brings. As they are rarely quantified in monetary terms, the environmental benefits for citizens are difficult to compare with the costs of restoring water bodies. Unsurprisingly, such benefits have been slighted in the design of freshwater management measures in Europe. Where benefits are unknown or invisible, restoration resources may well be misdirected and thus wasted. 

The thesis renders visible the non-market benefits of freshwater management by applying economic valuation method to estimate citizens’ "willingness to pay". Analysis produces monetary estimates of the benefits from voluntary freshwater management measures in the Pielinen, Saarijärvi, Kalimenjoki, Iijoki and Vuoksi regions. 

The research shows that successful water management would produce significant benefits for society at large, estimated in monetary terms. For example, when implemented, the regulation plan for Lake Pielinen stands to bring benefits of between €240 000 and €440 000 per year to the residents of the lakeside municipalities. In the Vuoksi River Basin District, the annual non-market benefits of achieving good status would be between €85 000 and €132 000, and in the Lake Saarijärvi watershed between €14 000 and €48 000. 

The results suggest that that prior knowledge of water management increased respondents' welfare gains, indicating that the objectives of water management should be better communicated to the public. In another outcome, citizens' perceptions of water status were found to differ from ecological status as defined by public authorities. Clearly, increasing dialogue between citizens, regional water management authorities and operators would enhance the effectiveness of water management. The benefits and drivers identified in the present research are significant outcomes that will serve to inform freshwater policy planning.

Opponent: Docent, DSc (Econ and Bus Admin) Erkki Mäntymaa, The Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

Custos: Professor Harri Koivusalo, Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Built Environment

Contact information of the doctoral student: Virpi Lehtoranta, [email protected],  +358 400 471676

The public defence will be organised on campus (auditorium M1, Otakaari 1).

The thesis is publicly displayed 10 days before the defence in the publication archive Aaltodoc of Aalto University. 

Electronic thesis