[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-138091-105":59,"doc-detail-138091-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","external-costs-of-water-pollution-in-the-drinking-water-supply-sector","External Costs of Water Pollution in the Drinking Water Supply Sector","","Nitrate pollution from agricultural production poses a major threat to water resources worldwide. This study measures the consequences of groundwater nitrate pollution for the drinking water supply sector by estimating how groundwater nitrate levels affect the costs faced by water utilities, linking agricultural nonpoint pollution to drinking-water external costs. Using fixed effects regressions with large German panel datasets on water suppliers and groundwater sampling sites, and spatial interpolation to approximate nitrate at abstraction plants, results show substantial cost increases in treatment and total costs. Cost elasticities for treatment range 0.048–0.052, while total costs reach up to 0.019, implying annual average increases of €39,000 and €116,000 for a 10 mg/L rise.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/external-costs-of-water-pollution-in-the-drinking-water-supply-sector/138091/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/external-costs-of-water-pollution-in-the-drinking-water-supply-sector/138091.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"WPS_1786070896","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-18","2026-08-23",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":52},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the study link groundwater nitrate pollution to external costs for drinking water suppliers?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It estimates how groundwater nitrate pollution affects water suppliers’ treatment and total costs, thereby quantifying the external costs associated with agricultural nonpoint pollution in the drinking water supply sector.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What data and empirical approach are used to assess cost impacts?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The analysis relies on fixed effects regressions using large German panel datasets covering water supply companies and groundwater sampling sites, with spatial interpolation to approximate nitrate levels at abstraction plants.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What are the main cost effects found for water utilities?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Groundwater nitrate pollution generates substantial costs through increased treatment needs and higher total costs, with treatment cost elasticities of 0.048–0.052 and total cost elasticities up to 0.019.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},138091,1787474410,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":52,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},549768072016,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Received: 30 January 2023  \nAccepted: 10 July 2024  \nDOI: 10.1111/ajae.12490  \nART I C L E  \nExternal costs of water pollution in the drinking water supply sector  \nAstrid Cullmann 1,2 | Julia Rechlitz 2,3 | Greta Sundermann 2,3 | Nicole Wägner 2,4,5  \n1Chair of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany 2Energy, Transportation, Environment Department, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin), Berlin, Germany 3Workgroup for Economic and Infrastructure Policy, Technische Universität Berlin,  \nBerlin, Germany  \n4Research Data Centre, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, Essen, Germany 5Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway  \nCorrespondence  \nGreta Sundermann, Workgroup for Economic and Infrastructure Policy, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.  \nEmail: [gs@wip.tu-berlin.de](gs@wip.tu-berlin.de)  \nAbstract  \nNitrate pollution from agricultural production is a major threat to water resources worldwide. This study quantifies the consequences of groundwater nitrate pollution for the drinking water supply sector by estimating the effect of groundwater nitrate pollution on the costs of water utilities. In doing so, we contribute to the estimation of the external costs of agricultural nonpoint pollution associated with drinking water supply. Empirical evidence is based on fixed effects regressions using large panel datasets on water supply companies and groundwater sampling sites in Germany. Local nitrate pollution at the abstraction plant is approximated using spatial interpolation. Our findings reveal that water suppliers incur substantial costs through groundwater nitrate pollution in terms of increased treatment and total costs. The estimated cost elasticities range from 0.048 to 0.052 for treatment costs and up to 0.019 for total costs. For an average firm, these estimates imply annual increases in treatment and total costs of €39,000 and € 116,000, respectively, for a 10 milligrams per liter increase in groundwater nitrate concentrations.  \nK E YWORDS  \nagriculture, drinking water supply, groundwater nitrate pollution, nonpoint source pollution, total cost, treatment cost  \nJEL CLASSIFICATION D24, L95, Q25, Q53  \nThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.  \n© 2024 The Author(s). American Journal of Agricultural Economics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.  \nCULLMANN ET AL.  \n505  \n1 | INTRODUCTION  \nNutrient water pollution from nitrogen has become a serious environmental problem in high-income countries (Craswell et al., 2021; European Commission, 2021; FAO, 2018). Large amounts of anthropogenic nitrogen are lost to air, soil, and water (Galloway et al., 2008), with many negative consequences on biodiversity (Canfield et al., 2010), climate (Galloway et al., 2003), and human health (Shukla & Saxena, 2019).1 Agriculture is the main source of nitrogen pollution in developed countries (Abascalet al., 2022; Campbell et al., 2017).2 More than 50% of nitrogen added to cropland is lost to the environment (Lassaletta et al., 2014), where nutrient run-offs from animal husbandry and fertilizer application lead to surface and groundwater contamination with nitrate (Paudel & Crago, 2021; Raff & Meyer, 2022).3 To curb its considerable environmental and social costs, reducing nitrate pollution is a key priority for governments worldwide (Parris, 2011). Despite a large body of legislation, for example, the Nitrates Directive (EU, 1991), the Water Framework Directive (EU, 2000), or the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (European Commission, 2010), excessive nitrogen emissions to water bodies are still occurring throughout Europe. Nitrate-polluted groundwater bodies are a particular concern because groundwater serves a","cbCaicLoW3PZYTBM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicLoW3PZYTBM","pdf",455505,28,"English","# Introduction\n## Regulatory context and relevance of nitrate-polluted groundwater\n## Cost channels for water suppliers (treatment, operational measures)\n## Evidence gap and study contributions","[{\"question\":\"How does the study link groundwater nitrate pollution to external costs for drinking water suppliers?\",\"answer\":\"It estimates how groundwater nitrate pollution affects water suppliers’ treatment and total costs, thereby quantifying the external costs associated with agricultural nonpoint pollution in the drinking water supply sector.\"},{\"question\":\"What data and empirical approach are used to assess cost impacts?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis relies on fixed effects regressions using large German panel datasets covering water supply companies and groundwater sampling sites, with spatial interpolation to approximate nitrate levels at abstraction plants.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the main cost effects found for water utilities?\",\"answer\":\"Groundwater nitrate pollution generates substantial costs through increased treatment needs and higher total costs, with treatment cost elasticities of 0.048–0.052 and total cost elasticities up to 0.019.\"}]","External Costs of Water Pollution in the Drinking Water Supply Sector | PDF",71]