Abstract

Computer simulation of remedial programs was carried out employing a large and diverse information base on both point and nonpoint pollutant sources in the Great Lakes basin to provide a more holistic environmental management perspective. The process utilizes a cascading system of sub-basin unit area pollutant loads (classified by land use and land form), per capita municipal pollutant inputs, river transmission factors, and remedial program effectiveness, in terms of reduced loadings to the lakes and costs. It was employed by PLUARG (Pollution from Land Use Activities Reference Group) to determine scenarios of remedial programs which apparently were practicable and would achieve target lake loads of phosphorus most cost-effectively. The analysis, presented here for Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and southern Lake Huron, provides a means of evaluating the effectiveness of various remedial program options to fulfill commitments by Canada and the United States to load reductions for these lakes. The methodology can be extended to other pollutants as sufficient data become available to permit a suitable degree of resolution for management decisions.

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