MODELING AND CONTROL OF THE POLLUTION OF WATER RESOURCES SYSTEMS VIA MULTILEVEL APPROACH1

ABSTRACT. The problem of modeling and control of water pollution is considered. A general mathematical model, where the pollution effluent is discharged directly into the river, into the lake, or into a bypass pipe leading to an advanced Waste Water Treatment (AWT) plant, is developed. The Water Resource System (WRS) under consideration is decomposed into N subsystems. The pollution effluent input vector to each subsystem includes the water quantity and different water characteristics such as BOD, DO, pH, conductivity, temperature, algae, phosphates, nitrates, etc. Treatment cost functions and quality transition functions as well as system model constraints are introduced, where all functions can be nonlinear. A system Lagrangian is formed to incorporate the system constraints and coupling. The Lagrangian is decomposed into N independent subsystems, and a two level optimization methodology is introduced. Each subsystem is independently and separately minimized at the first level assuming known Lagrange multipliers. At the second level, the total Lagrangian is maximized with respect to the Lagrange multipliers using optimal values for effluent inputs from all subsystems obtained from the first level. Economic interpretation on the Lagrange multipliers reveals that they are merely prices imposed by the central authority (second level) for the pollution caused by the subsystems. Advantages of the multilevel approach are discussed.     

A NONLINEAR MULTILEVEL MODEL FOR REGIONAL WATER RESOURCES PLANNING1

ABSTRACT: A nonlinear multilevel transportation model is developed to study large-scale allocations in a water resources system. The model uses a modified transportation matrix formulated with nonlinear cost functions as the basic subregional model and the goal coordination method for multilevel decomposition and optimization of the overall regional system. The model is applied to projected water requirements for Salt Lake County in 1985. Sources of water supply - surface water, ground water, import water, and reuse of reclaimed wastewater on a restricted basis - are available to satisfy water requirements for municipal, industrial, and agricultural sectors in four subregions. The conjugate gradient projection method is used to optimize the first level subregional models having cost functions of the form of C = aX^b, and the second level problem is solved using the conjugate gradient method.     

流域保护区域协同立法的功能定位与规范进路

《长江保护法》《黄河保护法》为长江、黄河流域的区域协同立法提供了法律依据,在流域保护区域协同立法“入法”后,需要明晰其权力空间与运行规则,提升其科学化、规范化水平。流域保护区域协同立法在本质上仍属于地方立法,是功能主义进路下解决跨行政区域流域保护难题的一种选择,是流域整体性保护的立法回应。就其功能而言,具有落实国家立法确立的流域保护整体目标的实施性功能,以地方合作为中心,解决那些通过单独地方立法难以解决的跨行政区域地方性流域保护问题的协调性、自主性、创新性功能。在此基础上,应当通过明晰其立法层级,建立地方立法规划协同机制,改、废、释的协同机制,交叉备案与后评估机制,深化公众参与机制,完善流域保护区域协同立法的运行规则。     

Indicators for managing biosolids in Ireland

Sustainable development indicators (SDIs) have emerged as a tool to measure progress towards sustainable development for a number of fields. However, no indicator initiative to date has been aimed at biosolids management at local authority, regional or national levels. This paper presents a study where stakeholders involved in the management of biosolids in Ireland participated in the development of SDIs for managing biosolids at the local/regional level. A significant 81% of participating stakeholders find SDIs either 'useful' or 'very useful' as a tool for managing biosolids. A suite of 22 indicators has been developed and arranged according to the driving force-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) indicator framework. The indicators address all the domains of biosolids management namely, production, quality, cost, legislation/regulation, training/research and recycling/disposal. The stakeholder approach is recognition that no effective indicator set can be developed without the input of stakeholders.     

MULTISCALE RIVER ENVIRONMENT CLASSIFICATION FOR WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT: River Environment Classification (REC) is a new system for classifying river environments that is based on climate, topography, geology, and land cover factors that control spatial patterns in river ecosystems. REC builds on existing principles for environmental regionalization and introduces three specific additions to the “ecoregion” approach. First, the REC assumes that ecological patterns are dependent on a range of factors and associated landscape scale processes, some of which may show significant variation within an ecoregion. REC arranges the controlling factors in a hierarchy with each level defining the cause of ecological variation at a given characteristic scale. Second, REC assumes that ecological characteristics of rivers are responses to fluvial (i.e., hydrological and hydraulic) processes. Thus, REC uses a network of channels and associated watersheds to classify specific sections of river. When mapped, REC has the form of a linear mosaic in which classes change in the downstream direction as the integrated characteristics of the watershed change, producing longitudinal spatial patterns that are typical of river ecosystems. Third, REC assigns individual river sections to a class independently and objectively according to criteria that result in a geographically independent framework in which classes may show wide geographic dispersion rather than the geographically dependent schemes that result from the ecoregion approach. REC has been developed to provide a multiscale spatial framework for river management and has been used to map the rivers of New Zealand at a 1:50,000 mapping scale.     

Implementing the EU Water Framework Directive in Norway: Bridging the Gap Between Water Management Networks and Elected Councils?

To handle the challenge of complex cross-sector and multilevel coordination in the implementation of the European Union Water Framework Directive, Norway has established multilevel governance networks. Observers have pointed to a risk of such governance arrangements being dominated by experts. This article studies the highly complex multilevel governance networks of water management in Norway, and unveils the importance of political anchorage of such governance networks at local and regional levels. The study finds evidence that political anchorage matters for further network achievements. Because the water governance networks are subordinated to the hierarchy of government, they need to ‘talk to' the system of hierarchical government in order to be effective. In this regard, it seems crucial that networks are politically anchored. Furthermore, the study unveils the important role of political leadership and network managers in ensuring political anchorage.     

Regional scale flood modeling using NEXRAD rainfall, GIS, and HEC-HMS/RAS: a case study for the San Antonio River Basin Summer 2002 storm event

This paper develops a framework for regional scale flood modeling that integrates NEXRAD Level III rainfall, GIS, and a hydrological model (HEC-HMS/RAS). The San Antonio River Basin (about 4000 square miles, 10,000 km2) in Central Texas, USA, is the domain of the study because it is a region subject to frequent occurrences of severe flash flooding. A major flood in the summer of 2002 is chosen as a case to examine the modeling framework. The model consists of a rainfall-runoff model (HEC-HMS) that converts precipitation excess to overland flow and channel runoff, as well as a hydraulic model (HEC-RAS) that models unsteady state flow through the river channel network based on the HEC-HMS-derived hydrographs. HEC-HMS is run on a 4 x 4 km grid in the domain, a resolution consistent with the resolution of NEXRAD rainfall taken from the local river authority. Watershed parameters are calibrated manually to produce a good simulation of discharge at 12 subbasins. With the calibrated discharge, HEC-RAS is capable of producing floodplain polygons that are comparable to the satellite imagery. The modeling framework presented in this study incorporates a portion of the recently developed GIS tool named Map to Map that has been created on a local scale and extends it to a regional scale. The results of this research will benefit future modeling efforts by providing a tool for hydrological forecasts of flooding on a regional scale. While designed for the San Antonio River Basin, this regional scale model may be used as a prototype for model applications in other areas of the country.     

A CRITIQUE OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT EFFORTS IN THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI ALLUVIAL PLAIN1

ABSTRACT: Integrated watershed management in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Plain (Delta) requires blending federal, state, and local authority. The federal government has preeminent authority over interstate navigable waters. Conversely, state and local governments have authority vital for comprehensive watershed management. In the Delta, integrating three broad legal and administrative regimes: (1) flood control, (2) agricultural watershed management, and (3) natural resources and environmental management, is vital for comprehensive intrastate watershed, and interstate river basin management. Federal Mississippi River flood control projects incorporated previous state and local efforts. Similarly, federal agricultural programs in the River's tributary headwaters adopted watershed management and were integrated into flood control efforts. These legal and administrative regimes implement national policy largely in cooperation with and through technical and financial assistance to local agencies such as levee commissions and soil and water conservation districts. This administrative infrastructure could address new national concerns such as nonpoint source pollution which require a watershed scale management approach. However, the natural resources and environmental management regime lacks a local administrative infrastructure. Many governmental and non governmental coordinating organizations have recently formed to address this shortcoming in the Delta. With federal and state leadership and support, these organizations could provide mechanisms to better integrate natural resources and environmental issues into the Delta's existing local administrative infrastructure.     

Multi-level coordination of climate change adaptation: by national hierarchical steering or by regional network governance?

The institutional structure and public service delivery apparatus required to meet the future effects of climate change already exist in Norway. However, there are huge challenges in coordinating these institutions at different authority levels for climate change adaptation purposes. Based upon a broad case study, this article presents how local actors consider the multi-level coordination of different levels of government and policy sectors to function today, which are the mechanisms that are used and what are the coordination challenges that are identified. Based upon the challenges revealed, this article discusses how best can the government-level institutions be organised for better goal attainment. We argue here that the elected regional level in Norway – the counties – has a huge potential to act as a multi-level coordination actor.     

PERSPECTIVES FROM THREE YEARS EXPERIENCE OF REGIONAL WATER SERVICES IN THAMES WATER AUTHORITY1

ABSTRACT: Thames Water is one of ten regional Water Authorities established in 1974 to manage all water services in England and Wales. This paper looks back at water reorganization and reviews the achievements and highlights of the last three years. Constitutionally, Water authorities are a combination of a nationalized industry and local authority. This has advantages and disadvantages. Freedom of action, particularly in financial matters, is constrained by Government and official agencies. A severe pollution of the upper Thames and the drought of 1976 tested Thames Water's ability to deal with emergencies. Thames Water does not have an operational monopoly. Private Water Companies supply one third of the water demand and local authorities manage nearly all the sewers. But Thames Water's control over planning and investment ensures that the river basin is managed in a coordinated fashion. Tariff structure changes have led the Authority to bill all its consumers direct. The Thames is a small but intensively used river and vigilance is needed to maintain water quality. Thames Water is proud of the restoration of the tidal Thames from a typical grossly polluted metropolitan estuary to its present excellent condition. The British Government intends to establish a national water industry strategic planning organization but at the same time they affirm that there can be no departure from the principle of integrated river basin management.     

Victoria's emerging framework of regional governance for sustainability: the case of catchment management authorities and regional catchment strategies

The aim of this paper is to presents a progress report on how a subnational jurisdiction, the Australian state of Victoria, is attempting to implement regional governance for sustainability through its catchment planning framework. The paper examines the lessons learnt from a best practice approach to the implementation of network governance to see whether there are actions that can be taken to improve regional governance for sustainability in Victoria. The authors argue that Victoria is implementing a network governance approach to natural resource management (NRM) as a significant component of sustainability and that this has certain advantages. In particular the emergence of Regional Catchment Strategies developed by the State's ten statutory Catchment Management Authorities as 'regional sustainability blueprints' is bringing a significant level of maturity to the state's governance framework. Furthermore the state is currently working to complete its governance for sustainability through new statewide integrating frameworks—an Environmental Sustainability Framework as well as a statewide Catchment Management and Investment Framework. The paper concludes that taking a network governance approach could have transformative potential but there are significant challenges ahead: the complex task of aligning of national, state, catchment and local government strategies through an outcomes focus; the scarcity of mechanisms and tools to assist in translation of strategies into integrated investment priorities; gaps in knowledge and understanding of natural resource management problems; limitations in the capacity of regional and local bodies, including local government; and getting the policy tools right within the framework. However, as the best practice examples illustrate, taking a gradual approach to the development of the institutions—building on successive wins in capacity—is the best and only way to proceed.     

福建生态文明试验区全面推行河长制评估研究

河长制是由各级党政主要负责人担任河长、负责辖区内河湖全面管理的机制性安排。福建生态文明试验区在全面推行河长制过程中,面临部分改革工作进展缓慢、效果不如预期等问题,亟待进行全面评估。本文剖析了河长制在生态文明试验区建设中的地位和作用,甄别了河长制与相关政策的逻辑联系,从政策过程的制定和执行阶段出发,通过指标法进行评估。所构建的指标体系包括一级指标2个、二级指标5个、三级指标39个,并给出各级指标权重,制定相应的评估标准。从得分情况来看,福建省全面推行河长制总分为0.90分,评估结果为优秀;从一级指标评估结果来看,政策执行阶段总体好于政策制定阶段;从二级指标得分来看,长效执行机制评估结果为良好,方案制定的评估结果为合格,其余为优秀;从三级指标得分来看,优良率达71.79%。在此基础上,从法律法规、政策协同、跨省协调、任务统筹、管护手段、社会参与等方面指出了存在的问题,并提出了有针对性的对策建议。     

长江经济带城市生态环境协同发展能力评价

生态优先、绿色发展是长江经济带国家战略的核心要求,城市生态协同发展是落实"共抓大保护、不搞大开发"的关键。城市生态协同发展主要体现为特定地方对全流域生态环境质量的贡献度,体现了特定地方对流域性生态公共物品和服务的供给能力。长江经济带110个地级以上城市生态环境协同发展能力差异悬殊。协同发展水平较高的城市主要集中在经济发展水平较高、能耗和污染排放较少的城市以及经济发展水平不高、工业污染较少的城市。而生态协同发展能力较差的城市多集中在那些能耗和污染严重的地区。这些城市形成了三大一级城市群和八大二级城市子群的空间分异格局。该格局表明,区域经济发展水平与生态协同发展能力之间在现阶段并非存在着严格的对应关系。长江经济带生态协同发展需要切实体现一体化治理(流域性)、中央集中性治理(国家战略性)和经济、社会、生态、环境统筹性治理(复合地域生态系统)三大内在需求。从长江流域整个生态系统恢复与地方生态环境保护的分工协作入手,处理好中央与地方政府在流域生态环境治理中的责权利关系,实现上下游之间、中央与地方政府之间在生态环境治理实践中的战略协同。     

我国跨区域水环境行政管理体制之检讨与完善

我国对水资源实施的是流域管理与行政区域管理相结合的管理体制。流域管理机构的地位不明确,在监督管理中没有完全独立的权限,基本上属于一种协调机构,因此完善我国的跨区域水环境行政管理体制具有重要的现实意义。从尽早完善水环境保护管理体制立法、明确各环境监督管理部门的具体职责、健全环境保护跨部门以及中央与地方的协调机制、成立跨区域环境保护管理协调机构、明确流域管理机构在流域水环境保护中的行政执法地位等方面作出了探讨,以利于更好地保护跨区域的水资源。     

Prioritizing Stream Barrier Removal to Maximize Connected Aquatic Habitat and Minimize Water Scarcity

Instream barriers, such as dams, culverts, and diversions, alter hydrologic processes and aquatic habitat. Removing uneconomical and aging instream barriers is increasingly used for river restoration. Historically, selection of barrier removal projects used score‐and‐rank techniques, ignoring cumulative change and the spatial structure of stream networks. Likewise, most water supply models prioritize either human water uses or aquatic habitat, failing to incorporate both human and environmental water use benefits. Here, a dual‐objective optimization model identifies barriers to remove that maximize connected aquatic habitat and minimize water scarcity. Aquatic habitat is measured using monthly average streamflow, temperature, channel gradient, and geomorphic condition as indicators of aquatic habitat suitability. Water scarcity costs are minimized using economic penalty functions while a budget constraint specifies the money available to remove barriers. We demonstrate the approach using a case study in Utah's Weber Basin to prioritize removal of instream barriers for Bonneville cutthroat trout, while maintaining human water uses. Removing 54 instream barriers reconnects about 160 km of quality‐weighted habitat and costs approximately US$10 M. After this point, the cost‐effectiveness of removing barriers to connect river habitat decreases. The modeling approach expands barrier removal optimization methods by explicitly including both economic and environmental water uses.     

THE STRUCTURE AND ROLE OF RIVER AUTHORITIES IN TEXAS1

ABSTRACT: Texas river authorities are a type of large, regional water district that must be financially self-sufficient. An institutional and historical study of Texas river authorities reveals the broad power of these organizations and their influence in water management. River authorities now control 25 percent of surface water deliveries in Texas. Over two-thirds of authority water was developed by river authorities; nearly one-third was purchased from private or public ventures. While river authority activities have been effective where these services are marketable, the provision of public good services is limited. Increased visibility of these organizations is paralleled by challenges to their traditional autonomy.     

从协调到协同：跨区域环境治理中的监管体制改革与路径——基于万达开川渝统筹发展示范区视角

区域环境协同治理理论可为跨区域环境监管体制改革提供重要理论支撑。在政策和法律法规的推动下,近年来我国跨区域环境治理取得了一定成效,但是仍存在中央与地方权责划分不明,跨区域环境监管缺乏权威性,环境监管垂管制度改革不彻底等问题。现有机制无法有效支撑地方政府开展跨区域环境监管和深层次的环境协同高效治理。为进一步突破现有的制约障碍,提高跨区域环境协同治理效率,应当进一步加快中央层面的跨区域统一立法和地方层面的跨区域协同立法,以法律保障跨区域环境监管体制改革向纵深推进,将中央与地方政府环境保护的权责在法律中进行明确和细化,中央政府成立专门的跨区域环境治理机构,地方层面成立跨区域环境治理协同机构,理顺跨区域环境治理中的纵向和横向关系,进而推进我国生态文明体制建设。     

Lake eutrophication management modeling using dynamic programming

Lake eutrophication problems have received considerable attention in Taiwan, especially because they relate to the quality of drinking water. In this study, steady-state river water quality and lake eutrophication models are solved using dynamic programming algorithms to find the nutrient removal rates for eutrophication control during dry season. The kinetic cycle of chlorophyll-a, phosphorus and nitrogen for a complete-mixed lake is considered in the optimization framework. The Newton-iterative technique is adopted to solve the nonlinear equations for the steady-state lake eutrophication model. The optimization framework is applied to Cheng-Ching Lake in southern Taiwan. Several nutrient loading scenarios for eutrophication control are studied. Optimization results for nutrient removal rates and corresponding wastewater treatment capacities of each reach of the Kao-Ping River define the least cost approach to lake eutrophication control. A natural purification method, structural free water surface wetland, is also suggested to save more investment and improve river water quality at the same time.     

长三角区域环境污染根源剖析及协同治理对策

当前的长三角区域环境治理尽管取得了一定成效,但其治理成本过高且难以达到持久改善的效果。长三角环境污染的根源在于投资驱动型增长导致的结构性污染锁定,以及低端经济导致的能源升级障碍。因此,环境治理应着眼于区域增长方式转型和环境与发展关系的优化,关键问题在于如何改变经济增长的推动方式与路径依赖,如何在新常态经济格局下寻求新的经济增长点,以及如何协调好不同行政区划之间的利益冲突。当前长三角区域需建立区域一体化的环境协同治理机制,推进能源升级与产业去重化进程,促进地区间错位发展与联动发展,以新型城镇化调动新的增长潜力,结合智慧城市建设转变公共服务供给方式,优化城市布局。     

An Interval-Parameter Waste-Load-Allocation Model for River Water Quality Management Under Uncertainty

A simulation-based interval quadratic waste load allocation (IQWLA) model was developed for supporting river water quality management. A multi-segment simulation model was developed to generate water-quality transformation matrices and vectors under steady-state river flow conditions. The established matrices and vectors were then used to establish the water-quality constraints that were included in a water quality management model. Uncertainties associated with water quality parameters, cost functions, and environmental guidelines were described as intervals. The cost functions of wastewater treatment units were expressed in quadratic forms. A water-quality planning problem in the Changsha section of Xiangjiang River in China was used as a study case to demonstrate applicability of the proposed method. The study results demonstrated that IQWLA model could effectively communicate the interval-format uncertainties into optimization process, and generate inexact solutions that contain a spectrum of potential wastewater treatment options. Decision alternatives can be generated by adjusting different combinations of the decision variables within their solution intervals. The results are valuable for supporting local decision makers in generating cost-effective water quality management strategies.