Water quality as a plausible basis for payment for ecosystem services, the buyer’s perspective: Chania River Catchment, Kiambu County, Kenya

River Chania as a water provisioning ecosystem service gets polluted by both point and non-point pollutants threatening this critical service. Command and control strategies aid in mitigating point source pollution, but are less effective in dealing with non-point pollution making payment for ecosystem services (PES) a better choice. The plausibility of PES was evaluated from a buyer’s perspective using a questionnaire survey and water quality data coupled with satellite images from Landsat. A sample of 119 respondents were chosen and stratified sampling technique utilized. A total of 50.8% depend on river water for use, 80.2% are concerned about the current state of the river and 98.4% would be willing to participate in a conservation program such as PES. PES was concluded to be plausible from this angle. Sustainable land management practices, education on good farming practices and riparian zones protection are some of the incentives these payments can be used for.