Bryn Adams
Many cities are taking steps to improve their stormwater management capabilities through the installation of green infrastructure, such as sidewalk swales and green roofs. Most of these projects are public, and cities are still looking for effective ways to get private landowners involved in the mitigation of stormwater runoff on a large scale. One possible solution that has become quite popular over the past several years is rain barrel rebate and discount programs. Since 2007, at least ten cities have implemented rain barrel programs for their municipalities, and most of them are still going strong.
Despite the rapidly growing popularity of these programs, however, there remains widespread uncertainty as to how they ought to be structured since little research has been conducted on consumer willingness-to-pay for rain barrels. Cities have widely varying strategies for incentivizing rain barrel usage: Springfield gives a $25 rebate; San Francisco sells the first barrel for $85 and each subsequent barrel for $45; and Philadelphia distributes barrels for free. Cincinnati even used a reverse auction in their 2007-2008 pilot program to pay residents to put barrels on their property, though they found that the majority of participants bid $0 (i.e. required no compensation to accept the installation of a barrel). Similarly, Philadelphia has had to suspend their program of free barrel distribution due to excess demand. Based on the experience of the project managers I contacted, the response to rain barrel programs has been enthusiastic and in most places is continuing to grow. Thus, at this point, consumers across the country and in cities of varying sizes are demonstrating significant willingness-to-pay for rain barrels, but further research must be conducted to optimize the performance of municipal rebate and discount programs.