The optimal policy decisions to mitigate water contamination damages for municipal drinking water users: An application to the Grand River watershed in Ontario

The thesis aims at clarifying policy considerations related to mitigating water contamination damages for municipal drinking water users when there are multiple raw water users and multiple pollution abatement strategies. One of the objective of the thesis consists in developing an economic framework integrating multiple raw water users and multiple pollution abatement strategies, with the economic framework allowing for the analysis of the optimal policy aimed at mitigating water contamination damages for municipal drinking water users. The theoretical results derived with the preceding objective are used to assess the policies aimed at mitigating water contamination damages for the municipal drinking water users on the Grand River watershed in Ontario.;A major finding is that the policies aimed a mitigating water contamination damages for the municipal drinking water users on the Grand River watershed seem not to be integrated over all raw water users, and thereby appear inefficient.