Vermonters rank water quality as a top public policy priority and are willing to pay to improve the health of Vermont’s waterways, according to survey data published in a new report by the Vermont EPSCoR Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lake Champlain Basin (RACC) project. The findings are based on two surveys of Vermont residents conducted in 2013 and 2014.

More than 95 percent of respondents to the 2013 survey ranked water quality as either “moderately important” or “very important,” a higher percentage than for all other public issues in the survey, including preserving the working landscape and economic development.  

The 2014 survey found that 65 percent of Vermonters were willing to pay at least $40 a year to improve the health of Lake Champlain. Respondents were willing to finance the clean-up either as part of a water utility tax or as an added fee to their motor vehicle registration.

Researchers estimated that the added taxes or fees could raise more than $15 million per year toward the state’s efforts to improve the water quality of Lake Champlain. With public education, researchers write in the report, the total could be higher. 

Data is timely as state prepares response plan to EPA targets

The survey results come as the state prepares its response plan to the Environmental Protection Agency’s new targets for the total maximum daily load, or TMDL, of phosphorous in Lake Champlain and its tributaries, which were issued over the summer. EPA sets TMDL targets for a range of pollutants and nutrients in impaired waterways across the U.S.

The survey data in the report was initially scheduled to be collected this year and next as part of the multi-tiered information collection and computer modeling RACC project, whose goal is to create an integrated predictive modeling tool state and local policy-makers can use to weigh the effects on Lake Champlain of land-use and other decisions they make.

But agency staff and legislators asked that the consumer survey component of the project be accelerated by a year to coincide with the TMDL cycle.

“They had a deep interest in knowing this fall about public perception of the importance of water quality and willingness to pay issues,” said Christopher Koliba, a professor in the University of Vermont’s Community Development and Applied Economics Department and one the leaders of the RACC project. “So, with their encouragement, we moved the schedule up by a year.”

Policy-makers who have seen the report feel the information it contains will be important as the response plan is being developed.

"This report confirms that Vermonters feel strongly about protecting Vermont's waters, especially Lake Champlain," said Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner David Mears.

Proximity to Lake Champlain not a factor

Survey results also indicated that proximity to Lake Champlain did not play a role in the public’s willingness to pay the tax or fee, a key finding.  

“Water issues are not just a concern for those living near Lake Champlain or the Lake Champlain basin,” Koliba said. “They have salience across the state.”

Vermont EPSCoR director Judith Van Houten, University Distinguished Professor of Biology at UVM, is glad to see that the RACC project is providing assistance to policy-makers even before the final integrated modeling tool -- due to be completed in 2016 -- is finished.

“I am extremely pleased with this new information now available for policy makers and state leaders to consider as they seek options to help address the health of the Lake,” she said. “Vermont benefits greatly from the economy generated from lake activities and we are aligned with these efforts to help study the best way to help ensure its health well into the future.”

The 2013 survey was distributed to more than 5,000 households in Vermont. The 2014 survey was conducted as part of the “Vermonter Poll,” which the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies performs annually, contacting over 2,000 households in the state. 

A copy of the full report is available on the Vermont EPSCoR website. 

Vermont EPSCoR, and the RACC project, are funded by the National Science Foundation. Located at the University of Vermont, the statewide EPSCoR program supports research for faculty, post-doctoral associates, graduate students and undergraduates at UVM and baccalaureate colleges across Vermont. Vermont EPSCoR also offers competitive funding opportunities for businesses and has a strong high school outreach program, through its Center for Workforce Development and Diversity located at Saint Michael’s College.