2002 Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages 13-24
The rapid industrialization and urbanization in Osaka Bay Area have produced many serious water pollution problems since the 1960s. About 14% of the total bay area has been reclaimed, and the natural coastline is only about 5.5% of the total coastal line. Many environmental countermeasures are positively implemented toward the environmental conservation.
Under such circumstances, the present study aims at clarifying what kinds of images of Osaka Bay the people in Kansai Area have, what kinds of environmental elements they think important, and how much money they can pay for the environmental conservation of the bay. The last one is investigated by CVM (Contingent Valuation Method), which is used for evaluation of environmental value, and its questionnaire surveys are conducted on the Internet. These results show that 73% of people have bad images, and these images would be preconceived. The result of CVM corresponds to the construction cost of the artificial wetland of 250m width and 6.4km length per year. The effect of the construction is examined by 3D water quality model. It leads to the conclusion that the recovery of COD is to be limited in the narrow area around the wetland.
