ABSTRACT
Modeling the Influence of Drinking Water Quality on Residential Property Value
Ghazal Pashanasangi

This thesis is an endeavor to study the influence of drinking water quality on residential property value in the United States. Bayesian inference method is used to model the influence of water pollution on property value. Hierarchical Bayesian inference method is used when different levels of pollution are considered. Number of types of chemicals detected in water utilities of each state, amount of total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) and total haloacetic acids (HAAs) in big cities drinking water, average property value in each state and big cities, and population are the data used in analyses. Results show that water pollution has a negative impact on the average property price in state level. Both TTHMs and HAAs, which are the most important pollutants in big cities, also have negative impact on residential property price in big cities. The impact of TTHMs pollution is more than HAAs pollution. Results of the hierarchical analyses show the state that each big city belongs to, determines the effect of TTHMs and HAAs pollution on residential property price.