Collective action: an alternative institutional arrangement for reducing water pollution in an industrial estate in India

This study explores the possibility of collective action as an alternative option for reducing water pollution for a cluster of small-scale industries. A case study of the Nandesari Industrial Estate in Gujarat, India, demonstrates the roles played by different agents, such as affected parties, polluters, non-governmental organizations, regulators and the court. The study empirically estimates the 'benefits' and 'costs' of water pollution abatement for a cluster of 250 small-scale industries at Nandesari, and uses these estimates for a social cost-benefit analysis. Benefits are estimated using the contingent valuation method, with a 'willingness to accept' format for the rural areas, and a 'willingness to pay' format for the urban area of the nearby Vadodara city. The article considers costs of command and control, market-based solutions and the option of common effluent treatment as alternative scenarios. It discusses how collective action and joint abatement at a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) by the 250 industries efficiently comply with the State Pollution Control Board norms, which had not been possible for the factories acting individually over the last 20 years. Finally, a detailed social cost-benefit analysis has been undertaken to estimate the net present social benefits with and without CETP. The cost-benefit analysis shows the economic advantage and social desirability of 'collective action' (joint treatment with CETP institutional arrangement) for water pollution abatement with respect to all possible scenarios comprising shadow prices of investment, foreign exchange, unskilled labour and equity considerations.     

REAUTHORIZING THE CLEAN WATER ACT: LOOKING TO TANGIBLE VALUES1

ABSTRACT: The degree of progress achieved under the 1972 Clean Water Act is reviewed by reference to traditional measures of program implementation, and to evidence of tangible, or “real-world” progress, such as beach closures, drinking water contamination, fishing bans and advisories, species health, and habitat degradation. Significant progress has been made in reducing pollution from point sources, but large point source releases of toxic and other pollutants remain. Little progress has been made in addressing runoff pollution, and in protecting aquatic habitats. Clean Water Act reauthorization should focus on pollution prevention to reduce further the release of toxics by point sources, a new program of mandatory but flexible controls on sources of runoff, and watershed protection programs to promote habitat protection and restoration. Economic factors should be considered in Clean Water Act programs, but must be balanced against scientific and governmental factors as well.     

AN ENGINEERING ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A PROGRAM FOR ARTIFICIAL GROUNDWATER RECHARGE1

This study describes and demonstrates two alternate methods for evaluating the relative costs and benefits of artificial groundwater recharge using percolation ponds. The first analysis considers the benefits to be the reduction of pumping lifts and land subsidence; the second considers benefits as the alternative costs of a comparable surface delivery system. Example computations are carried out for an existing artificial recharge program in Santa Clara Valley in California. A computer groundwater model is used to estimate both the average long term and the drought period effects of artificial recharge in the study area. For the example problem, the benefits of reduced average annual pumping lifts and reduced incremental subsidence are greater than the total costs of continuing the existing artificial recharge program. Benefits for reduced subsidence are strongly dependent on initial aquifer conditions. The second analysis compares the costs of continuing the artificial recharge program with the costs of a surface system which would achieve the same hydraulic effects. Results indicate that the costs of artificial recharge are considerably smaller than the alternative costs of an equivalent surface system. In evaluating a particular program, consideration should also be given to uncertainties in future supplies and demands for water as well as to the probability of extreme events such as droughts.     

老龄海底油气管道弃置决策研究

针对我国老龄海底油气管道在弃置决策上缺少理论依据的问题,建立老龄海底油气管道弃置决策模型的结构流程,基于多属性效用理论,从4个维度进行分析,选取影响老龄海底管道安全寿命的工程因素、结构因素、风险因素和影响决策的成本因素,构建属性树;运用模糊理论建立模糊互补判断矩阵,综合专家意见计算各属性权重,并进行影响因素敏感性分析;确定老龄海底管道弃置决策评分准则,对属性树各因素取值进行量化,引入成本效益率量化成本因素;采用逻辑运算计算综合得分,根据综合得分进行弃置决策。工程实例应用表明:相比于传统决策方法仅凭设计寿命作为弃置依据,老龄海底管道弃置决策模型不仅避免了单一性,还能反应服役环境对管道的影响,有利于提高管道服役过程的经济性和安全性。     

资源、环境、生态的关系探讨及对自然资源管理的建议

资源、环境和生态是我国生态文明建设的三个关键词,也是地球系统科学的重要组成,但目前学术研究和政策制定上仍存在模棱两可的问题,给自然资源领域的科学发展和贯彻落实生态文明发展理念带来了潜在不利影响,明晰其各自概念边界具有重要理论价值和现实意义。本文在分析自然资源、自然环境和生态环境三者内涵的基础上,对比了国内外关注视角、问题和需求的差异,并根据各自特征属性尝试构建了三者关系及判别图解模型。主要结论为:(1)国内外对自然资源、自然环境和生态环境的关注视角、问题和需求存在显著差异,其关注视角分别为数量、质量和平衡状态,关注问题分别为枯竭、退化和破坏,而关注需求分别为节约、保护和恢复;(2)三个概念的相互关系可通过是否自然、是否有价值和是否生物相关三个属性进行判别,自然资源的本质为有价值的自然环境,与自然环境是包含与被包含的关系,生物相关的自然资源即是生态环境;(3)对自然资源管理提出了拓展调查研究内容、采用"资源环境"表述和对生态治理工程进行以生物多样性为重点的负面影响评价三方面的建议。     

湖泊围垦的生态经济效益分析

70年代初,在“以粮为纲,向荒湖要粮”的影响下,不注意生态经济效益,掀起盲目“围湖造田”高潮。本文针对这种“围湖造田”的生态、经济、社会三效益损益作了较具体分析,除对发展粮食生产,消灭钉螺有一定好处,在其他农业生态,水产,滨湖气候,水运等方面都带夹了不良影响。因此看出,盲目围垦的作法是利少而弊多。 文中提出,对湖泊资源只有合理的充分利用,才能做到有效地保护和管理;又只有加强保护和管理,才能源源不断地使用这些可更新的自然财富,为人类造福。