A Recourse‐Based Interval Fuzzy Programming Model for Point‐Nonpoint Source Effluent Trading under Uncertainty

In this study, a recourse‐based interval fuzzy programming (RIFP) model is developed for tackling uncertainties expressed as fuzzy, interval, and/or probabilistic forms in an effluent trading program. It can incorporate preregulated water‐pollution control policies directly into its optimization process, such that an effective linkage between environmental regulations and economic implications (i.e., penalties) caused by improper policies due to uncertainty existence can be provided. The RIFP model is applied to point‐nonpoint source effluent trading of the Xiangxi River in China. The efficiency of trading efforts between water quality improvement and net system benefit under different degrees of satisfying discharge limits is analyzed. The results are able to help support (1) formulation of water‐pollution control strategies under various economic objectives and system‐reliability constraints, (2) selection of the desired effluent trading pattern for point and nonpoint sources, and (3) generation of tradeoffs among system benefit, satisfaction degree, and pollutant mitigation under multiple uncertainties. Compared with the traditional regulatory approaches, the results demonstrate that the water‐pollution control program can be performed more cost‐effectively through trading than nontrading.     

AN IMPLICIT APPROACH TO PRICING AGRICULTURAL WATER TRANSFERS TO URBAN USES1

ABSTRACT: The increased agricultural efficiency of the American farmer has been a substantial impetus to this nation's rapid urbanization. In many western regions where total water supplies are limited, urbanization has required the transfer of heretofore agricultural water rights to the urban use. A major problem in such transfers has been the value or price of the water. A management level model of a typical urban water system was developed to optimize water supply, distribution, and wastewater treatment alternatives. The values of agricultural transfers were determined as the cost advantages of increasing allowable reuse levels of urban effluents which imply the use of a downstream right. This procedure is justified by the economic theory of alternative cost. Results for a test application to the Denver, Colorado area indicate values on the order of $1,000 per acre-foot of transferable water depending on effluent water quality restrictions and operational policies.     

Incorporation of biological information in water quality planning

Progress toward the goal of restoring integrity to the waters in the United States has been difficult to assess. This difficulty may arise from the type of regulatory policy that has been traditionally used. With the advent of widespread wastewater treatment, the use of a planning approach employing receiving water impact standards may offer a more practical and direct means of defining and assessing integrity. Biological community response is shown to offer an integrated approach to implementing and evaluating water quality management policy. The state of Maine (USA) has revised its water quality law by utilizing biological community response to assess integrity. This law is presented as a model that employs impact measures and a planning approach for the implementation of water quality management policy.     

RURAL NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION CONTROL IN WISCONSIN: THE LIMITS OF A VOLUNTARY PROGRAM?1

ABSTRACT: This paper examines the relationship between best-management practices, institutional needs, and improved water quality within the watersheds of Wisconsin's program for controlling rural nonpoint source pollution. The first section describes the federal requirements for state nonpoint source programs and the legislative and management methods the state of Wisconsin uses to put those requirements into practice. The emphasis of the paper, described in the second section, is the institutional difficulty in evaluating the success of a large, integrated water quality program. Measurements which are investigated include (1) watershed water quality before and after implementation of BMPs; (2) program participation as measured by eligible vs. participating landowners, BMPs considered necessary vs. BMPs implemented, or dollars allocated to the NPS program vs. dollars expended; and (3) institutional goal coordination and management effectiveness. It is found that, despite the size and sophistication of Wisconsin's NPS program, there is little if any improvement in ambient water quality in these watersheds, probably because of a general lack of adequate participation in this voluntary program.     

AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEHRAN REGION IN IRAN1

ABSTRACT: In this paper, a system approach to water resources development in Tehran Metropolitan Area, with its complex system of water supply and demands, is discussed. Water resources in this region include water storage in the Lar, Latyan, and Karaj reservoirs, the Tehran aquifer, as well as water discharge in local rivers and in drainage channels (mainly supplied by urban runoff and wastewater). This study consists of three phases of long‐term water resources planning and management in the Tehran metropolitan area. In each phase, a different level of details among different components of the system is considered. In the first phase, optimal operating policies for Tehran reservoirs and a decision support system are developed. In the second phase, interactions between surface and ground water resources as well as surface runoffs and wastewater disposal in different subareas are investigated. The water table fluctuations as a result of implementing sewerage collection project was also simulated. In the last phase, long‐term scenarios for water resources and agricultural development in the Southern part of Tehran are defined, and the effects of each scenario on the quality and quantity of surface and ground water resources are studied.     

LAND USE FUNCTION IN WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT1

ABSTRACT. The Nation has entered a new era of water quality management in which land use policy and regulation must assume an increasingly important role. The benefits of tertiary and advanced waste treatment may be offset by contradictory land use and pollution from land runoff. Unless land use planning and controls are included in water quality management, land-imposed constraints on water quality can be anticipated. Pollution from major types of land runoff are reviewed with respect to sources, effects, and control procedures. Emphasis is given to land use practices and controls. The crucial issue with regard to the latter is lack of land use policies at federal, state, and local levels. State legislation establishing guidelines and minimum standards for land use regulation by local government is required. The dependency of water quality on land use points to the fallacy of attempting to provide for comprehensive water pollution control outside the context of comprehensive land-water resource planning and management.     

水质基准与标准对我国环保产业的拉动分析

水质基准与标准是国家环境保护工作的根本,是进行环境管理的重要技术依据。随着我国水环境形势的变化和管理目标的改变,为准确、客观地反映我国当前的地表水环境状况,强化水污染防治,有效引导水环境质量改善的方向,提高水环境管理的效率,要求基于水质基准研究开展《地表水环境质量标准》的修订工作,以满足新的管理需求。预测表明,"十三五"期间我国环保投资将达到约6.8万亿,为达到修订《标准》后的目标,我国水污染防治至少需投资2.04万亿。另外,修订《标准》,将带动工业和城镇水污染防治投资超过一万亿元,能够加快环保产业的技术成果转化与应用推广。水质基准与标准对环保产业创新和社会经济发展具有积极促进作用,将在我国水环境质量改善和科技进步促进方面产生重大而深远的影响。     

浊漳河山西省潞城市境内段河流生态健康评价研究

浊漳河山西省潞城市境内干流段及南源段河道生态环境目前最突出的问题在于水质恶化、水量减少以及生物多样性衰退。本文从水质、水量、生物状况三个要素出发,通过建立浊漳河潞城市境内河段的水生态健康评价体系,对浊漳南源及干流段进行了生态健康诊断。结果显示,浊漳干流段生态健康总指数36.74,呈生态病态状;南源段生态健康总指数60.03,呈基本健康状态。据此,浊漳河潞城境内段目前的核心问题是生态恢复问题,应当针对其存在的问题选择适当的生态修复模式,采取相应的生态环境管理方法,把生态系统的恢复和重建作为其流域治理的最终目标。     

Confronting limitations: new solutions required for urban water management in Kunming City

Despite continuous investment and various efforts to control pollution, urban water environments are worsening in large parts of the developing world. In order to reveal potential constraints and limitations of current practices of urban water management and to stimulate proactive intervention, we conducted a material flow analysis of the urban water system in Kunming City. The results demonstrate that the current efficiency of wastewater treatment is only around 25% and the emission of total phosphorous from the city into its receiving water, Dianchi Lake, is more than 25 times higher than its estimated tolerance. With regard to the crisis of water quantity and quality, the goal of a sustainable urban water environment cannot be attained with the current problem-solving approach in the region due to the technical limitations of the conventional urban drainage and treatment systems. A set of strategies is therefore proposed. The urban drainage system in Zurich is used as a reference for a potential best-available technology for conventional urban water management (BAT) scenario in terms of its low combined frequency of sewer overflow.     

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.     

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.     

Baseline requirements can hinder trades in water quality trading programs: Evidence from the Conestoga watershed

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are promoting point/nonpoint trading as a way of reducing the costs of meeting water quality goals. Farms can create offsets by implementing management practices such as conservation tillage, nutrient management and buffer strips. To be eligible to sell offsets or credits, farmers must first comply with baseline requirements. USEPA guidance recommends that the baseline for nonpoint sources be management practices that are consistent with the water quality goal. A farmer would not be able to create offsets until the minimum practice standards are met. An alternative baseline is those practices being implemented at the time the trading program starts, or when the farmer enters the program. The selection of the baseline affects the efficiency and equity of the trading program. It has major implications for which farmers benefit from trading, the cost of nonpoint source offsets, and ultimately the number of offsets that nonpoint sources can sell to regulated point sources. We use a simple model of the average profit-maximizing dairy farmer operating in the Conestoga watershed in Pennsylvania to evaluate the implications of baseline requirements on the cost and quantity of offsets that can be produced for sale in a water quality trading market, and which farmers benefit most from trading.     

10过程工业清洗用水减量优化算法

建立了10过程工业清洗用水数学模型，分析了10过程的工业清洗用水流量、进出口浓度、杂质传质速率之间的关系，并转化为一个有约束条件的优化问题。提出了一套基于遗传算法-模拟退火法-单纯形法的工业清洗过程用水的优化方法，编制了清洗过程用水的应用程序。优化结果表明：新鲜水可由252．42t／h降至152．82t／h，节水量99．60t／h，污水减少量99．60t／h，节水率达39．5％。     

WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF SKUDAI RIVER1

ABSTRACT: Urban runoff as well as industrial and agricultural discharges have seriously affected the water quality of the Skudai River, Malaysia. A water quality model is developed for simulating BOD and oxygen relationship. The simulated values agree relatively well with survey data taken during low flow conditions. Survey and simulated values show that a pollution abatement program is needed to prevent further deterioration of the river from organic discharges. A systems approach, involving complete analysis of water quality models and environmental control procedures, considering various water use patterns, water quality criteria, and waste input, is essential for solution.     

USE OF A HYDROLOGIC MODEL IN A BASIN-WIDE WATER ALLOCATION PROCEEDING1

ABSTRACT: The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation developed a hydrologic model to help analyze the effects of allocating water for consumptive and instream uses in the upper Missouri River basin of Montana. The model, a PC-based FORTRAN program, uses a mass-balance approach to compute monthly streamflows, reservoir operations, hydropower production, and irrigation and municipal water uses throughout the 54,000 square mile basin for a 59-year base period. Simulation results are presented as monthly mean and percentile-exceedence values. The model was run for baseline conditions and six hypothetical water-allocation alternatives. Results were used by staff resource area specialists to assess potential impacts to water quantity and distribution, water rights, water quality, stream channel form, fisheries, wildlife, recreation, hydropower production, and economics. These analyses were presented to the public and the decision-making board in an environmental impact statement (EIS). Though, in many instances, the model did not allow for detailed, site-specific analyses, the model was an important tool and its simulation results formed the hydrologic basis for the EIS.     

WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY-CONSCIOUS ERA1

The Sierra Club, which has long fought selected water resource projects that it believes would be environmentally damaging, has come to the conclusion in recent years that much more basic reforms are required in water resources development activities if the demands for environmental quality now evidenced by the American people are to be satisfied. These reforms should not be limited to those that would have a direct effect on the environmental aspects of proposed projects, but also many others long advocated by the economics profession that would have favorable indirect effects. Among the urgent reforms with indirect effects are those involving revision of the procedures used in evaluating proposed projects. These procedures should be revised so that future evaluations will much more accurately reflect the economic and environmental merits of proposed projects. Basic reforms of tax policies are also needed that will eliminate most of the private profit available to those who can persuade the government to increase the value of their land through the construction of water projects. Finally, some additional actions can be taken that will have a direct impact on lessening the adverse environmental impact of water projects beyond the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.     

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.     

RURAL RESIDENTIAL WATER DEMAND: AN ECONOMETRIC AND SIMULATION ANALYSIS1

ABSTRACT: This study proposes that demand management through pricing policies can be used in conjunction with supply management to solve water supply problems. Economic principles are shown to apply to rural residential water use. A demand function for water was developed based on cross-sectional water use data collected in Kentucky. Price was found to be a significant determinant of the quantity of water demanded. A constant price elasticity of -0.92 was found. The demand function was used in a simulation analysis to determine reservoir capacity needed to supply water needs of a rural community. The simulation revealed that price can significantly affect required reservoir storage.     

Developing a Standardized Water Quality Index for Evaluating Surface Water Quality1

Abstract: There is a significant need for a science‐based approach to interpret water‐monitoring data and to facilitate the rapid transfer of information to water resource managers and the general public. The water quality Index (WQI) is defined as a single numeric score that describes the surface water quality condition at a particular time and location. The objective of this paper is to describe the WQI concept and the approach for developing an ecoregion‐specific standardized WQI that meets the needs described above. The premise of the proposed WQI is based on categorizing scientifically documented aquatic life responses to changes in instream water chemistry. The method uses an aggregated procedure that matches the entire range of standardized probable biological responses to standardized narrative water quality evaluation categories and standardized rank score categories. The calculation of WQI and decision‐making process are performed within an Excel spreadsheet software program. The article includes examples of the proposed WQI applications that could enhance effective water resource management and facilitate timely communication of water quality conditions to water resource managers and the general public.