Urban Metabolism and Payment for Ecosystem Services: History and Policy Analysis of the New York City Water Supply

Abstract

The interaction of urban cores and their rural hinterlands is considered from an ecological–economic perspective. The concept of ‘urban metabolism’ motivates discussion of urban dependence on geographic regions outside their borders for both sources of inputs and as waste sinks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 1989 Surface-Water Treatment Rule forces cities to consider the ecosystem services preserved by appropriate land-use management inside suburban and rural watersheds used for urban water supplies. A case study of New York City and its water supply from the Catskill–Delaware watershed system is used to explore these themes. Compensation from the city to watershed communities may be an effective way to motivate protection of those ecosystem functions. Both direct payments and investment in economic development projects consistent with water quality goals are reviewed as policy instruments.

Citation

Kane, M. and Erickson, J.D. (2007), "Urban Metabolism and Payment for Ecosystem Services: History and Policy Analysis of the New York City Water Supply", Erickson, J.D., Messner, F. and Ring, I. (Ed.) Ecological Economics of Sustainable Watershed Management (Advances in the Economics of Environmental Resources, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 307-328. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1569-3740(07)07013-7