Surface water is one of the vital resources on earth. However, the cost and benefit analysis often reports that the costs of protecting water quality outweigh its benefits. One possible reason for this obvious paradox is that only a limited range of local water quality benefits are considered in calculating the results of good water quality. In particular, climate damage caused by water pollution has rarely been quantified. Recent advances in global water science make it possible to estimate global methane emissions from lakes caused by the accumulation of human nutrients (eutrophication). The cost of methane emissions from eutrophication of lakes between 2015 and 2050 will be USD 7.5 billion to USD 81 billion. Even though, quantity of water is immense but the quality of water is depleting which can disturb the balance of nature and can cause a lot of death to human life as we need good quality drinking water to survive. Furthermore, fishing culture and the marine life is also endangered due to contamination of ponds and lake. Soon enough, the number of sea organisms will decrease causing even more harm to Mother Nature.
Almost everyone wants their local lake or stream to be clean and suitable for drinking, fishing, swimming, and fun. The reason why previous studies have shown the costs outweigh the benefits is because not all benefits, especially global ones, have been analyzed by economists. New research, led by John A., the Director of the University of Minnesota Sea Grant, shows that clean water can help slow climate change and save billions of dollars. Using a case study on Lake Erie as an example, the authors also found that the global value of climate change for the protection and prevention of this large lake from algal blooms was ten times higher than the value for the use of beach or sport fishing.
Downing, who is also a marine researcher at the University of Minnesota's Duluth Great Lakes Observatory, explained how people have mistakenly assumed that protecting our water costs more than it's worth. His research shows that protecting local water quality has significant local and global value.
