Research on narrow and generalized water environment carrying capacity, economic benefit of Lake Okeechobee, USA

Abstract

The water environment pollution in the Lake Okeechobee (LO) basin has caused negative impacts on lake ecology and marine ecology. In particular, total phosphorus pollution is very prominent. The two-dimensional water environment mathematical simulation method is used to calculate the narrow water environment carrying capacity (N-WECC), the comprehensive indicator evaluation method is used to calculate the generalized water environment carrying capacity (G-WECC), and the shadow price method is used to calculate the economic loss caused by water environment pollution. The total amount of TP discharged into LO is 15,611 tons in 2018. Through prediction, if the 83% pollutant emission concentration can be reduced, then the total phosphorus concentration of LO can reach the target, and its N-WECC is 2654 t/year. From the four aspects of water resources index, water environment index, water ecology index and land use index, 15 comprehensive evaluation indicators adapted to LO basin are proposed. By calculating G-WECC is 0.129, in the low load state, the most important factor is serious agricultural pollution. The largest economic loss caused by water pollution. The total economic loss caused by water pollution in the LO basin is 1,185,030,095 USD in 2018. Among them, the economic loss caused by sewage discharge was 852,546,223 USD, causing economic losses of 332,149,942 USD for human health and 612,930 USD for sewage irrigation. Martin County accounted for 42.78%, Orange County accounted for 24.79%, Osceola County accounted for 12.69%, and these three counties accounted for 80.24%.