Assessment of Policies on Environmental Impacts of Socioeconomic Activities: A Case Study of Kasumigaura Basin, Japan

Abstract

AbstractAs environmental problems, such as global warming and ozone layer depletion, have a significant influence on various ecosystems, it is imperative to examine this relationship in depth. This is especially true for specific ecosystems, such as lakes, and the environmental problems affecting them. In this study, we propose a synthesized environment management policy, such as the control of water and air pollutant emissions, using a computer simulation. We considered both the ecological system in and around Lake Kasumigaura in Japan and the related socioeconomic changes in the catchment areas of the lake during a certain period. The pollutants measured in this study are total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen—taken as water pollutants—as well as carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide, and nitrogen oxides, taken as greenhouse effect gases and air pollutants. This study targeted the simulation period between 1999 and 2007, which was when some of the research and development projects for new air pollution abatement and water quality improvement technologies started in this basin. The objectives of this research were to identify policy considerations for effectively reducing air and water pollutants in the basin without new technology and the kind of impact these policy considerations will have and to uncover how environmental load reduction technologies should be designed. The results show that governments should take advantage of the immediate effect of the capital reduction subsidy and prioritize budget allocations to reduce air pollutants in the earlier years of the target period. The government should then install domestic wastewater facilities such as sewage systems to reduce water pollutant emissions. The results also show that more economically efficient water pollutant-reduction technologies are required, especially those that transform pollutant emissions to single molecular form. The results of this research can contribute to the validity evaluation of research and development projects that have been implemented in this basin thus far.KeywordsComprehensive evaluationComputer simulationSimultaneous controlAir and water pollutantsSocioeconomic activities