When Wastewater Is a Social Dilemma: Individual and Collective Choices in Technology Adoption

In many human–environment systems, individual actions influence community behavior and environmental outcomes and can be characterized as social dilemmas. In regional wastewater management, decisions made at the household level, such as the choice between individual septic systems and community-scale treatment options like cluster septic systems, collectively shape water quality outcomes at the watershed scale. While innovative wastewater technologies can reduce nutrient and contaminant loads, their effectiveness ultimately depends on adoption and appropriate use by households and communities.

Using a large-scale survey that includes a stated preference experiment conducted in the United States, with a focus on North Carolina (N = 2,068), we examine how willingness to pay (WTP) for improved wastewater treatment technologies varies depending on how individuals conceptualize the underlying interdependent decision context. We classify respondents’ decision-making into four archetypal mixed-motive games: Maximum Difference, Assurance, Chicken, and Prisoner’s Dilemma, and analyze differences in WTP across these mental representations. Results show that respondents, on average, favor individual solutions (advanced septic systems) over collective solutions (cluster septic systems) and are willing to pay a premium for the individual option. We interpret this premium as the cost of cooperation, reflecting perceived risks and governance challenges associated with collective wastewater management. As nature-based technologies and other alternative approaches rely on human cooperation on multiple levels, our findings provide valuable behavioral context for design and implementation of innovative water quality interventions.