THE IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY OBJECTIVES ON URBAN WATER SUPPLY PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: Optimal policies for supplying rapidly expanding urban centers with additional water supplies are shown to be dependent on water quality goals for the urban effluent. As effluents are required to meet increasingly stringent standards, the unit costs associated with adding capacity to existing wastewater treatment systems to renovate some waters for reuse are shown to substantially decrease. A nonlinear elimination algorithm is developed to delineate optimal policies. A model employing the technique was applied to the wastewater treatment system of a typical urban system and the water quality objectives varied. A comparison of costs with and without various levels of reuse were made and unit costs of reused water under these conditions determined.     

陕北能源开发生态环境补偿对策研究

本文从陕北能源开发入手,通过对生态破坏、经济损失的分析,论述了生态环境补偿的必要性和迫切性,提出了生态环境补偿的依据。从生态学的角度分析了生态的损失补偿是企业产品成本的构成部分,而不应是社会责任承担。阐明了补偿费征收管理办法主要应包括征收范围、征收机构、征收标准、管理使用和罚则等五个方面。     

DECISION PARAMETERS FOR COMBINED USE OF EFFLUENT DISCHARGES,SURFACE FLOWS,AND GROUND WATER1

ABSTRACT: Decision parameters affecting combined use of effluent discharges and surface flows and ground water available at Gillespie Dam on the Gila River in Arizona are identified and analyzed. Hydrologic, economic, legal, and institutional parameters are considered separately and in combination. The interrelationships of irrigation subsystems, water use functions, institutional involvement, economic and legal constraints are illustrated. Recent hydrologic studies indicate that the natural flow of the Gila River will increase with the discharge of Phoenix sewage effluent and then there will be a drastic decline when the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station commences in 1985. Competition for any increases in effluent discharges and surface flows could be ameliorated through the combined efforts of existing or reorganized entities resulting in sharing of costs and benefits. The analysis leads to recommendations concerning joint use of facilities, proration of fixed and variable costs, and creation of a mutual water company.     

Charging versus exclusion: Choice between recreation management tools

Overuse of recreation sites seems to justify regulation, and the principal tools for this are fee charging or physical exclusion. Both seem equally costly to administer. Both involve equal costs to consumers if recreationists visit from one origin, but if they come from different origins, costs may be greater and consumers' surplus less under either tool, depending on the shape of the demand curve. Which is the more equitable tool depends on the relative representation of rich and poor participants from near and distant origins. Potentially beneficial use of site revenues is an advantage of charging. Neither availability of substitutes nor variation in daily demand seems likely to change these results substantially, but a system of booking admissions before the trip outset might neutralize the advantages of charging. The optimal level of use varies with the regulatory tool chosen. The optimal admissions under exclusion could be fewer than or more than under charging, or may even be equal to unregulated use.     

A VESSEL LICENSING FEE AS AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL FOR A DEEP DRAFT WATERWAY USER CHARGE1

ABSTRACT: Congress, with the support of the Reagan Administration, is considering the imposition of a user fee on deep draft waterways and ports. Two major bills emerged in the 98th Congress and proposes a tax on import-export value while the other proposes a tax on import-export tonnage. This paper proposes and discusses another user fee alternative, a vessel licensing system. It outlines the advantages of such a fee system under a set of assumed objectives and discusses the range of possible license charge levels under a cost recovery target of $250 million.     

INEQUITIES FOR SMALL FOOD PROCESSING PLANTS RESULTING FROM LIQUID WASTE TREATMENT REGULATIONS1

ABSTRACT: The cost of the liquid wast treatment measures required to meet federal as well as typical state and local regulations was examined for dairy processing plants of various sizes. Federal effluent standards were found to produce higher estimated capital costs per unit of raw material for smaller plants, even with relaxed requirements for smaller plants. State regulations limiting the effluent BOD₅- concentration were also found to result in inequitable costs for smaller processors. These inequities result from economies of scale and not such factors as level of process technology employed or amount of waste produced per unit of raw material. In contrast, applying an example sewer surcharge formula did not produce inequities from economies of scale.     

Why pollution standards are preferred by industries: pragmatism and rent-seeking behaviour

Regulatory instruments in environmental policy have strongraison d'etre. They still dominate the instruments selected by policy makers. Even with the growing interest in the use of economic instruments, in theory, empirical studies and policy, industries tend to prefer command-and-control as a practical instrument in pollution control. Polluters often assume they have more influence on regulation than on setting effluent charge levels. The industry can be better off under the regulatory standard than an imposed effluent charge when the total cost of abatement to the industry is considered. The higher costs to the industry make effluent charges less attractive. In practice, generally a mixed environmental policy is used in which regulations dominate. This choice has been based on effectiveness, economic efficiency and political acceptability. By simulating the abatement cost function, it was found that marketable permits offer an attractive system of pollution control when the scope of variation in abatement levels is evident. Unfortunately, at higher levels of abatement, the benefits of this system are small and insufficient to justify any regulatory reform. Thus, with a pragmatic approach coupled with a rent-seeking behaviour of the polluters, a shift to the use of economic instruments is neither likely nor desirable even when administrative and transactions costs are not considered.Dr Khalid Abdul Rahim is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Economics and Management at the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia. He is also a visiting Fellow at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, and the Thematic Network Coordinator in the UNEP Network for Environmental Training at tertiary Level in Asia and the Pacific (NET-TLAP).     

某公司印染废水处理工程实例

某公司采用“一级混凝沉淀一水解酸化-A／O法-二级混凝沉淀”工艺处理印染废水,工程日常运行结果表明,在废水主要指标CODQ为660～690mg／L、色度为1200倍时,处理后出水COD0为70-90mg／L,色度为28-35倍,CODo的去除率为86％-89％,色度的去除率约为97％。废水处理系统综合电耗0．8kW·h／t污水,废水处理总运行费用2．2元／t污水,具有较好的技术经济指标。     

Agricultural water pollution control: An interdisciplinary approach

Regulation and control of agricultural water pollution is unique and difficult to accomplish. Water quality standards are often proposed without adequate consideration of the overall economic impact on agricultural production. This article illustrates how economists and physical scientists can cooperate to develop appropriate control strategies for agricultural water pollution. Data provided by physical scientists and economists are used in a linear programming model to describe salt discharge as a function of water management, production levels, and an associated effluent charge. Four water management activities were chosen on the basis of different costs of production (including a parametrically varied effluent charge), water requirements, alfalfa yields, and levels of salt discharge. Results indicate that when the effluent charge is low (<$0.20/metric ton salt discharged), maximum production with maximum salt discharge is most profitable. As the effluent charge is increased ($0.20–$0.40/metric ton salt discharged), it becomes progressively less profitable to produce alfalfa at maximum levels of pollutant discharge. When the effluent charge is >$0.40/metric ton salt discharged, alfalfa production is no longer economically feasible. An important aspect of this approach is that it permits policy makers to identify explicitly the relationship between the environmental standard and the effect on agricultural production.     

CAF涡凹气浮处理含油废水的中试试验研究

针对石化公司污水成分复杂,COD和油含量较高,还含有较多的硫化物、挥发酚和氨氮(NH3-N)等情况,选用一种新型的气浮设备CAF涡凹气浮系统对该含油废水进行了预处理中试试验。试验结果表明CAF处理石化含油废水效果明显,气浮处理效果好,出水油在10 mg/L以下,去除率高达95%,且CAF气浮的电耗小、占地面积小、操作管理和维修非常简便。采用CAF设备,占地面积可节省70%～80%,每年可节约电费50～60万元(按1000 m3/h,0.8元/kW·h),操作使用也极其简单,具有可观的经济效益。     

Lake management techniques in Florida,USA: Costs and water quality effects

Economic evaluations of restored or enhanced lakes in Florida indicated gravity drawdown was the least expensive action, whereas effluent diversion was 10,000 times more costly on a per hectare basis, with the other lake treatment costs occurring in the following order: gravity drawdown < grass carp introduction < mechanical drawdown < aeration < stormwater control = drawdown-dredging < effluent diversion. Within a particular treatment category, the costs spanned approximately one and one half orders of magnitude. Contrary to the abundant cost data, which permitted an economic analysis, inappropriate statistical design and lack of commitment toward sampling Florida's restored lakes undermines attempts to understand long-term water quality responses to various enhancement techniques. Using Lake Tohopekaliga as a case study, ordinary statistical tests produced contradictory and unreliable interpretations on the effectiveness of drawdown and phosphorus removal at sewage treatment plants in improving the trophic state index. This emphasizes the need for more robust statistical approaches and more detailed data collection in evaluating lake restoration activities It is unfortunate for Florida's lake restoration program that quantitative conclusions based on inferential statistics, replete with tests of assumptions, is limited to very few lakes     

Economic considerations for wastewater upgrading alternatives: an Israeli test case

Sewage effluent for land application is becoming an increasingly important source of irrigation water in many semi-arid regions of the world. Two main approaches to the use of sanitation to upgrade effluent for reuse in agriculture were analyzed: (i) sanitizing to the level required for each crop; or (ii) upgrading all effluent to the sanitary level mandated for unrestricted irrigation (<10 fecal coli/100mL). The first approach was authorized by the Israeli health authorities, who consider irrigation with secondary effluent to be complementary to the treatment process. The other approach was conceived mainly by the agricultural and environmental establishments, which debited the additional financial burden to the urban sector and/or the 'general public'. We show that upgrading all effluents in Israel to 'unrestricted irrigation quality' would cost $69 million each year for upgrading alone, in addition to the costs of treatment to the sanitary level required for each individual crop and of observing all the necessary additional precautions and boundaries. This difference in cost stems from the fact that most effluent is used for the irrigation of non-edible crops, for which partial pathogen removal is sufficient. Thus, upgrading to the sanitary level required by the most sensitive crops would be rather wasteful.     

COST-EFFECTIVE REGULATORY OPTIONS FOR WATER QUALITY LIMITED STREAMS1

With the pressure from industries and municipalities to reduce the waste water treatment costs associated with the permit limits needed to attain the goals of the Clean Water Act, attention has turned ways of introducing flexibility into the regulations without sacrificing the water quality goals. Wisconsin is the first state to have adopted a variety of options from which dischargers may choose when meeting their water quality requirements. These options were developed for the express purpose of minimizing the costs and maximizing the flexibility of the point source water quality regulations while ensuring that permitted discharge would not violate the water quality standards. This paper presents five options that the state has made available to dischargers, as well as one the state did not adopt. The conclusion is that a mix of options can substantially increase the flexibility and reduce the costs of meeting water quality standards on effluent limited streams.     

MBR/RO组合工艺回收处理己内酰胺废水的中试研究

对己内酰胺生产过程废水的回用处理工艺进行了研究。以某己内酰胺化工厂的LUCAS出水作为研究对象,采用膜生物反应器和反渗透膜处理工艺,研究此系统对己内酰胺废水的处理效果。试验结果表明,膜生物反应器工艺适用于该化工厂的生产废水,出水COD平均值为31.33mg/L,平均浊度为0.2NTU,氨氮平均值为2.81mg/L,可以满足反渗透膜的进水要求。在浓缩倍数为3时,反渗透膜系统运行稳定,且产水可以满足化工部循环冷却水用再生水水质标准。     

Pollution control technologies for the treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) through end-of-pipe processes

Palm oil production is one of the major industries in Malaysia and this country ranks one of the largest productions in the world. In Malaysia, the total production of crude palm oil in 2008 was 17,734,441 tonnes. However, the production of this amount of crude palm oil results in even larger amounts of palm oil mill effluent (POME). In the year 2008 alone, at least 44 million tonnes of POME was generated in Malaysia. Currently, the ponding system is the most common treatment method for POME but other processes such as aerobic and anaerobic digestion, physicochemical treatment and membrane filtration may also provide the palm oil industries with possible insights into the improvement of POME treatment processes. Generally, open ponding offers low capital and operating costs but this conventional method is becoming less attractive because the methane produced is wasted to the atmosphere and the system can not be certified for Carbon Emission Reduction trading. On the other hand, anaerobic digestion of POME provides the fastest payback of investment because the treatment enables biogas recovery for heat generation and treated effluent for land application. Lastly, it is proposed herewith that wastewater management based on the promotion of cleaner production and environmentally sound biotechnologies should be prioritized and included as a part of the POME management in Malaysia for attaining sustainable development. This paper thus discusses and compares state-of-the-art POME treatment methods as well as their individual performances.     

法国某生活污水厂污泥好氧消化工艺运行研究

为了提高出水质量，法国小镇Cagnes—sur—Mer的生活污水处理厂从2008年初开始实施高有机负荷的运行，但同时这也提高了出泥产量。由于污泥的处理费用及搬运污泥的交通费用很高，水厂对污泥进行了污泥好氧稳定工艺，工艺使用纯氧机（VSA装置）就地利用空气制氧。工艺投入运行后，每日对好氧消化池的入泥和出泥进行采样和检测（MLSS、MLVSS、pH、COD、DRYNESS etc）以建立完整的运行数据。污泥经好氧消化作用后其有机物含量减少60％以上，每月减少40吨的出泥。同时，消化池的使用还使水厂周日也能对曝气池中的污泥进行抽取，缓解了以往由于周日停止排泥而导致周一曝气池中污泥浓度过大的问题。从而达到优化出水水质的目的。消化池中的温度维持在40℃左右，因为反应为放热反应，所以无需加热设备。此项目所收集到的数据将为这种工艺的发展提供帮助。同时也可以为那些想要减少出泥量的水厂提供一种新的方法。因为它投资小，见效快，操作简单。     

WATER REUSE FROM SEWAGE EFFLUENT BY IRRIGATION: A PERSPECTIVE FOR HAWAII1

ABSTRACT: Surrounded by an ocean, the Hawaiian Islands are limited in their natural fresh water resources. The major readily developable potable sources are the high quality ground water sources which serve both domestic uses and sugarcane irrigation although irrigation water does not require as high a quality as drinking water. The increasing overall fresh water requirements for the island of Oahu will outstrip the potential yield of fresh ground water sources, as developed by present technology, by the year 2000 according to Honolulu Board of Water Supply projections. There are water shortage regions on other islands. Water reuse from sewage effluent for irrigation will augment natural water resources, furnish supplemental or alternative fertilizer, and reduce ocean water pollution and the costs of engineering systems. In cooperative field testing from 1971 to 1975, it was demonstrated that effluent can be applied as supplemental water for furrow irrigation of sugarcane without detriment to ground water quality and sugar yield. Studies are in progress to test different dilutions of effluent and its use with chemical ripeners to improve crop yield. Sugarcane plantations on Oahu, Maui, and Kauai are in various stages of water reuse by effluent irrigation. Reuse is presently practiced for irrigation of golf courses and is being planned for forage crops in Hawaii.     

Mining economics and the environment

A mining operation can affect the environment adversely and create costs to others that are external to the mining firm, if no constraints are imposed. To deal with this problem of externalities, various regulatory steps can be taken, eg effluent taxation, subsidies, regulation of emissions by command, and use of emission permits that are tradeable. Bargaining between the polluter and the damaged party over the level of production and compensation remains a more theoretical option. Regardless of what regulatory approach is adopted to transform external costs into internal costs, the resulting higher costs will have an impact on the decisions of a mining firm. Information processes, traditionally focused on finding deposits, have now been broadened to include an environmental dimension. Operating practices can be modified to reflect the need for stable long-term solutions of waste disposal problems. On the industry level, environmental regulation may lead to sterilization of resources, to higher prices for some commodities and to distortions of competitiveness among commodity producing countries.     

RECIRCULATING WELLS: GROUND WATER REMEDIATION AND PROTECTION OF SURFACE WATER RESOURCES1

ABSTRACT: Several chlorinated solvent plumes threaten the sole‐source aquifer underlying the Massachusetts Military Reservation at the western end of Cape Cod. Sensitive surface water features including ponds, cranberry bogs, and coastal wetlands are hydraulically connected to the aquifer. For one of the plumes (CS‐10 the original remedy of 120 extraction and reinjection wells has the potential for significant disruption of surface water hydrology, through the localized drawdown and mounding of the water table. Recirculating wells with in‐well air stripping offer a cost‐effective alternative to conventional pump‐and‐treat technology that does not adversely affect the configuration of the water table. Pilot testing of a two well system, pumping 300 gpm, showed a capture radius of > 200 feet per well, in‐well trichloroethylene (TCE) removal efficiencies of 92 to 98 percent per recirculation cycle, an average of three recirculation cycles within the capture zone, and no measurable effect on water table elevations at any point within the recirculation/treatment zone. During 120 days of operation, the mean concentration of TCE in the treatment zone was reduced by 83 percent, from 1,111 μg/l to 184 μg/l. Full‐scale design projections indicate that 60 wells at an average spacing of 160 feet, having an aggregate recirculation 11 MGD, can contain the CS‐b plume without ground water extraction or adverse hydraulic effects on surface water resources. The estimated capital costs for such a system are about $7 million, and annual operations‐and‐maintenance costs should be about $1.4 million, 40 percent of those associated with a pump and treat system over a 20‐year period.     

基于机制设计理论的环境政策初探

机制设计理论是研究在市场失灵的情况下，如何设计一套机制达到既定社会目标的理论。而环境问题的特殊性质使得单纯依靠市场无法合理有效的解决环境问题，这就需要机制设计这一理论的指导。基于机制设计理论的原理，已探索出很多环境政策，有效的预防并解决了污染问题，使公众利益与社会的总体利益达到了“激励相容”。本文在以排污税、排污权交易等环境政策的设计为例，探讨了机制设计理论在环境政策制定中的应用，同时分析了机制设计理论存在的问题，指出在经济全球化的背景下，依靠机制设计理论解决环境问题遇到的瓶颈，提出了利用机制设计理论制定环境政策未来的可能方向和着力点。