Abstract: With the contingent valuation method which was structured by payment card, public’s willingness to pay (WTP) for water quality improvement of Yangtze River were measured, The results show as follows: (1) The mean WTP is 100.66 Yuan per family per year. 76.5 percent of respondents’ WTP is over 0 Yuan, 8.4 percent of respondents is willing to pay but their WTP equals 0 because of low family income, and 15.1 percent of respondents is unwilling to pay for water quality improvement. (2) The respondents’ WTP is related to his family income, environmental ecological consciousness of water quality improvement and education degrees. (3) Donation, tax, fund and higher water price are the possible payment choices. So, income increasing, environmental ecological consciousness improvement, introduction of the idea ’whoever benefits, whoever pays’ and the effectiveness improvement of fund management are efficient ways to increase publics’ WTP for water quality improvement in Yangtze River area.