Date of Award

Spring 2024

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Natural Resources and Environmental Studies

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

John M Halstead

Second Advisor

Scott Lemos

Third Advisor

Stephanie Brockmann

Abstract

PFAS are emerging contaminants that continue to rise in their public and political saliency. Although causal health outcomes are still unclear, there is evidence that the widespread and widely used family of chemicals has been correlated with negative human health impacts. The state of New Hampshire was one of the first in the country to regulate PFAS, establishing a lower maximum contaminant limit (MCL) than the EPA at the federal level. As PFAS policy continues to develop at the federal and state levels, it is important to consider how New Hampshire residents perceive this issue. In particular, residents in Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Strafford counties have been affected by unsafe levels of PFAS in their drinking water. Many of these residents, like 46% of the state, source their drinking water from private wells. I seek to determine if homes with wells contaminated by PFAS exceeding regulatory limits experienced a decline in their sold price as a method to value the cost of PFAS borne unto New Hampshire residents. I use the hedonic property-value method to quantify the impact of PFAS in private wells on the sold prices of homes (2015-2021) in three New Hampshire counties. Similar to other groundwater studies (Malone and Barrows, 1990; Page and Rabinowitz, 1993; Dotzour, 1997) my analysis did not find evidence that PFAS contamination in private wells has a significant effect on sold home prices. However, it is unlikely that this result indicates that homeowners truly do not value avoidance of PFAS exposure. It is often hypothesized that imperfect information could prevent the market response observed in the hedonic property method. In addition to home sales data, I developed and administered to better understand homeowner perception and awareness of this emerging contaminant. Here, I had the unique opportunity to survey homeowners from my property-value model to deepen our understanding beyond their observed market behavior. I found evidence that homeowners in New Hampshire have varying levels of information about potential PFAS contamination of drinking water. In my sample, 62.9% of respondents were unaware of the potential for PFAS to contaminate a household’s drinking water prior to purchasing their home. The homeowner survey also provides evidence that PFAS contamination in drinking water is a concern for NH residents and that they value the avoidance of such contamination. 72% of respondents expressed some to high concern about PFAS and 58.3% were willing to pay for a theoretical service to remove PFAS from their well water. I also found that homeowners have taken mitigation actions, such as installing a whole-house filter, to avoid PFAS exposure, further supporting that NH residents value PFAS avoidance. This study has implications for policy action in the state of New Hampshire and beyond to address a fragmented information landscape that has the potential to create issues of environmental justice and equity.

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