Collective action problems and cumulative effects: Addressing pollution of marine waters in Hood Canal, Washington

This study researches a problem where cumulative effects are polluting a public good; and where a collective action failure is contributing to that problem. In Hood Canal, Washington, nitrogen from thousands of onsite sewage systems is the most significant anthropogenic contributor to hypoxia in its marine waters. Hood Canal homeowners' feelings of responsibility to take action to address this hypoxia problem were analyzed; along with their reaction to three potential corrective actions: (1) joining an onsite sewage operation and maintenance cooperative, (2) individually upgrading their onsite sewage treatment system to reduce its nitrogen output, and (3) joining a community sewage treatment system. Rational choice and normative/social capital theories were used to hypothesize factors that might motivate homeowners to act to address the hypoxia problem, and to hypothesize which factors might drive preferences among those three corrective actions.; This study found that marine waterfront property owners have significantly higher feelings of responsibility to act to address the hypoxia problem than non-marine waterfront property owners. This adjacency creates a "normative ownership" of Hood Canal and the hypoxia problem that others do not have, despite an insignificant difference in their individual contributions of nitrogen to Hood Canal. Other significant factors included income and education level to a lesser degree. Several attitude variables were also significant, such as the causal connection between onsite sewage systems and the hypoxia problem, the seriousness of the problem, and the level of understanding of the problem by scientists. However, most social capital variables explained less than 10% of why a homeowner felt responsibility to take action, with trust having the highest explanatory power.; In explaining preferences among the corrective actions, cost and homeowner privacy were most important. Avoidance of new regulations, fees or taxes, and declining property values were less important. Income was also a significant factor among all the actions with education level being slightly less significant. Adjacency to marine waterfront explained between 15 and 20% of preferences among the corrective actions. Social capital was less helpful in explaining preferences among the corrective actions, again with overall trust having the most explanatory power.