Freshwater management tool: report 9. A total economic valuation approach to understanding costs and benefits of intervention scenarios - part 1 urban devices

Extract from the Executive summary

Background and purpose

Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters Department is developing a Freshwater Management Tool (FWMT) to assist with decision-making around the development of freshwater management outcomes required by the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) (e.g., both regulatory and operational programmes). A key part of this assessment is understanding the costs and benefits of implementing different intervention scenarios for future planning and decision
making.

The purpose of this report is to document the cost data sources, assumptions and process undertaken to generate indicative life cycle cost (LCC) estimates for urban stormwater device
interventions for use within the FWMT, within the context of a total economic valuation assessment. The report recommends how the cost results should be interpreted and how they should be considered alongside our understanding of the indirect costs and the benefits associated with alternative intervention scenarios. Recommendations are also made to overcome identified challenges and to refine future costs assessments.

The “Total Economic Valuation” assessment framework

The report recommends that Auckland Council undertake a Total Economic Valuation (TEV) assessment framework for decision-making within the FWMT. A TEV framework assists in assessing alternative approaches in a way which acknowledges direct, indirect and avoided costs, as well as direct, indirect and other ancillary community benefits. ...

FWMT report 2021/9

Auckland Council, September 2022

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List of Freshwater Management Tool reports

1. Baseline data inputs

2. Baseline configuration and performance | Report 2, appendices (in preparation)

3. Baseline state assessment (rivers) | Report 3, appendices (in preparation)

4. Current state assessment (lakes). Not published. Inquiries to: fwmt@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

5. Review of the freshwater management tool. Baseline state assessment (rivers)

6. Literature review of primary sector responses to water quality: efficacy and cost

7. Riparian area management scenarios. Freshwater management tool

8. Lifecycle costs and benefits for rural mitigations in the freshwater management tool

9. A total economic valuation approach to understanding costs and benefits of intervention scenarios – part 1 urban devices

10. A total economic valuation approach to understanding costs and benefits of intervention scenarios – part 2 urban source control costs

11. Recommendations for improving rural mitigation modelling in the freshwater management tool

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Inquiries to: fwmt@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz