Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Water Resources Research

Publisher

American Geophysical Union

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Publication Date

3-2010

Publisher location

Washington, DC

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Issue Number

3

Volume Number

46

Abstract/ Summary

This paper examines the impact of arsenic contamination of groundwater on sale prices of residential properties and bare land transactions in two Maine towns, Buxton and Hollis, that rely on private wells to supply their drinking water. Prompted by tests of well water by the state of Maine, media attention focused on the communities in 1993 and 1994 when 14% of private wells were found to have arsenic concentrations exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standard of 0.05 mg/L. Households could mitigate the serious health risks associated with arsenic ingestion by purchasing bottled water or by installing a reverse osmosis home treatment system. Our results indicate that the initial arsenic finding in 1993 led to significant, but temporary, 2 year decreases in property prices. This is a much shorter effect on prices than has been observed for Superfund sites, where prices can be depressed for a decade. These results suggest that a property-specific contamination incident that is treatable may not have a long-lasting effect on sale prices, but further research is needed to confirm if the dissipation of the price effect was actually due to the installation of in-home water treatment systems or due to the dissipation of perceived risk once the media coverage stopped.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

"Boyle, K.J., Kuminoff, N.V., Zhang, C., & Bell, K.P. 2010. Does a Property-Specific Environmental Health Risk Create a Neighborhood Housing-Price Stigma? Arsenic in Private Well Water. Water Resources Research 1-10. DOI: 10.1029/2009WR008074 "

Publisher Statement

© 2010 American Geophysical Union.

DOI

DOI: 10.1029/2009WR008074

Version

post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing with all author corrections and edits)

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Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.