Water Pollution at Thetsane Industrial Area: A portrait of Attitudes, Values and Willingness to Participate in Pollution Abatement Activities

This study investigates the relationship between the socio-demographic characteristics of a sample of resident households and their behaviour towards environmental problems at Thetsane Industrial (TI) area, Lesotho. Using Logistic Regression Model and Descriptive Statistics on the set of data collected from a sample of 88 households in the TI area, the paper estimates factors that influence people’s decisions to participate in pollution abatement activities as well as assessing their attitudes towards environmental problems and environmental improvement programmes. The results from the paper show that in general, home-ownership and length of stay in a particular location are very important in explaining the household decision to participate in pollution abatement activity and that higher income earners and more educated individuals possess more positive attitudes toward environmental problems than those with less income and low level of education. Households that participate in environmental programmes are female headed households. The paper further shows that the absence of markets for permits, lack of property rights, and lack of law enforcement despite the presence of environmental laws as well as government institutions charged with enforcement of such laws implies continued pollution in this area. On the policy front, it is argued that it is profitable to allocate property rights to the citizens that are willing to participate in environmental projects and perhaps they would be in a better position to sue the firms for the damage they cause on people’s welfare.