Socioeconomic Value of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in Delaware
Date
2011-03
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Abstract
The Chesapeake Bay watershed in Delaware (1) contributes over $2 billion in annual economic activity from benefits associated with water quality, water supply, ecotourism, recreation, agriculture, forest, open space, and navigation, (2) provides annual ecosystem value of natural goods and services of $3.4 billion (in 2010 dollars) with a net present value (NPV) of $109.6 billion over a perpetual lifetime, and (3) is directly/indirectly responsible for 47,000 jobs with $1.2 billion in annual salaries.
Delaware occupies 702 square miles or just about 1% of the 64,000-sq-mi Chesapeake Bay watershed, while the Chesapeake Bay watershed covers about 35% of Delaware’s land area (1,953 square miles). Almost 140,000 residents—16% of the First State’s total population of 885,000—live in Delaware portion of the watershed. More than 41,800 people—11% of Delaware’s total employment—work in the Delaware portion of the watershed.
Economic activity in the Delaware portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed exceeds $2 billion annually from water quality, water supply, ecotourism, recreation, agriculture, forests, open space, and navigation benefits. These benefits include Clean Water Act Restoration ($1,550,543), water-quality recreation ($101,629,897), Chesapeake Bay restoration ($22,200,000), increased property value due to improved water quality ($392,735,030), water treatment by forests ($550,000), wastewater treatment ($29,054,000), septic-system assimilation ($16,099,500), drinking water supply ($50,453,374), irrigation water supply ($11,295,000), hunting/fishing/bird and wildlife watching ($108,900,000), agriculture ($522,000,000), forest carbon storage ($854,600,000), carbon sequestration ($2,960,000), air-pollution removal ($27,210,000), building-energy savings ($5,730,000), avoided carbon emissions ($310,000), public park health benefits ($188,537,846), community-cohesion benefit ($46,156,327), water-pollution control ($17,838,849), air-pollution mitigation ($1,704,472), and instream navigation ($570,000).
The estimated value of natural goods and services provided by ecosystems in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Delaware is $3.4 billion (2010) with a net present value of $109.6 billion based on an annual discount rate of 3% over a perpetual lifetime (over 100 years). Natural goods are commodities that can be sold, such as water supply, farm crops, fish, timber, and minerals. Natural services are ecological benefits to society, such as flood control by wetlands, water filtration by forests, and fishery habitat by wetlands. Ecosystem services areas within the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Delaware comprise habitats, such as farmland (55%), forests (23%), and freshwater wetlands (18%).
Ecosystems with the highest natural-goods values are farmland ($600 million or $2,446 acres/year), forest ($28 million or $275 acres/year), and freshwater wetlands ($22 million or $270 acres/year). Highest natural ecosystem services values are provided by forests ($1.4 billion or $13,887/acre), freshwater wetlands ($1.1 billion or $13,351/acre), and farmland ($203 million or $827/acre). The Nanticoke River ($786 million), Broad Creek ($557 million), and Choptank River ($490 million) watersheds provide the highest values of annual ecosystem services. Watersheds with the highest per acre ecosystem services include Elk Creek ($11,209/acre), Gravelly Branch ($9,559/acre), Pocomoke ($8,750/acre), and Chester River ($8,704/acre), as these systems are rich in forests and wetlands (over 75%).
Jobs in New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties within the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Delaware total 41,824, representing wages of $1.2 billion annually. Jobs pertaining to activities directly/indirectly
associated with the Chesapeake Bay watershed (such as farming, fishing, hunting, recreation, tourism) total 12,800, representing annual wages of $310 million. Ecotourism such as fishing, hunting, and
bird/wildlife-associated recreation, accounts for 3,319 jobs in the Delaware portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Farming and agricultural-habitat conservation accounts for at least 2,500 jobs in the
Delaware portion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Delaware’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan has the potential to fund more than 200 green jobs annually.