Water Pollutant Discharge Research Articles

Study on Knowledge Based System for Integrated Water Resources and Environment Management at County Level

In order to improve the capacity of integrated management on water resources and environment at county water conservancy and environmental protection departments, a knowledge based system for integrated water resources and environment management have been developed and operated at 16 counties in the north of China. The information technologies such as knowledge discovery approaches, GIS and middleware have been applied in the development of the system. The System provides services of information management, business management, including permit management of water intake and pollution discharge. The integrated management planning platform was developed based on SWAT model. These services of the system have significantly improved the capabilities of information exchange and sharing as well as the integrated water resources and environment management at county level.

Explanation of 47-Year BOD Alternation in a Japanese River Basin by BOD Generation and Discharge

Average and 75 % biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the Yamato-gawa River, Japan, in 1963 were smaller than the criteria determined in 1970 (5 mg l−1); however, they were deteriorated up to 22–32 mg l−1 in 1970. The deterioration was caused by the population increase and economic and urban development. The national-level regulations on ambient water quality and pollutant discharge have been established in 1970. Municipal wastewater is the major contributor in pollutant discharges in the river basin. Estimated BOD discharge (PD(BOD)) in the river basin reduced to the level of 1963 in 2000; however, average and 75 % BOD were more than the criteria. Analysis on the relationship between BOD and PD(BOD) resulted in the five phases in 1963–2009. The equilibrium conditions changed from phase I to II because of the perturbation caused by the excess BOD discharge, self-correcting mechanisms were found in phase III, and equilibrium conditions changed from phase III to IV and V. The comparison of estimated BOD based on pollutant generation (PG) without measures and monitored BOD represented the following situations in 47 years: (1) It took several years before the effects of centralised WWTPs were observed, (2) PD(BOD) was less than 35 t-BOD day−1 for the linear relationship of PD(BOD) and BOD, and (3) combined effects of wastewater treatment, river water purification facilities and soft measures were estimated to be about 10 mg-BOD l−1 in 2010.

Resolving Trans-jurisdictional Water Conflicts by the Nash Bargaining Method: A Case Study in Zhangweinan Canal Basin in North China

Trans-jurisdictional conflict in both water quantity and quality is a general concern in large river basins. In this paper, the relative utility function combined with the asymmetric Nash bargaining method was established to analyze the trans-jurisdictional conflict between water quantity and water quality in the Zhangweinan Canal Basin in China. The basin was divided into four conflict stakeholders, namely, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Shandong Provinces, based on administrative unit. The water usage and pollutant discharge scheme for multiple stakeholders was optimized using the established model to satisfy the environmental flow and water quality objectives at the identified conflict sections. The results indicated that the total water consumption was reduced from 4.38 × 109 m3 in 2007 to 1.97 × 109 m3, and that the allowable COD and NH3-N discharged into the river was less than 3.8 × 104 t and 4.3 × 103 t, respectively. About 81.1 % of COD and 76.1 % of NH3-N should be further reduced compared with the values in 2007.

Scenario Analysis on the Water Environment Carrying Capacity of Wuliangsuhai Lake Basin

Rapid social-economic development and the ever-increasing water pollutant discharge of Wuliangsuhai lake basin made the water quality deteriorated; the lake eutrophication intensified and heavily restricted the sustainable development of the watershed’s social economy. Wuliangsuhai lake basin was selected as the study area. By the use of system dynamics simulation model the water environment and social economy were connected, and three kinds of improved scenarios (resource-environment constrained type, social economy constrained type, coordinated development type) were proposed based on the inertial and planning schemes. Ten indexes of water environment carrying capacity, i.e. the GDP per capita, ratio of industrial output to GDP, et al., were selected, and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used. Results showed that, the water environmental capacity utilization ratios of COD and TN in the resource-environment constrained scenario were 69.5% and 57.9% in 2020, respectively. And the water environment carrying capacity index increased from 0.19 in 2008 to 0.31 in 2020. Under the coordinated development scenario, the surplus environmental capacity of COD and TN were 1755.46t/a, 260.21t/a respectively, and the water environment carrying capacity index was up to 0.29 in 2020. The sustainable development plan was proposed and some feasible suggestions and strategies were put forward.

Benefit-Cost of River Water Environment and Investments Related to Water Environment in the River Basin

Huge investments for water and waste water management and ambient water environment improvement have been conducted for many years in economically developed countries including Japan. The investment for water supply, on-site and centralized municipal waste water treatment systems (WWTSs), river water purification facilities and dissemination of soft measures in households, and benefits from water quality improvement in the Yamato-gawa River Basin, Japan, in 1965–2009 were summarized based on the statistical data and existing literature. The benefits include ambient water quality improvement and employment of local fishery persons. The former was estimated based on the existing literatures. Average and 75% biological oxygen demand (BOD) in the River was less than 5 mg l-1 in 1963, rapidly deteriorated in the 1960s and exceeded 20 mg l-1 in 1970. The national level regulations on ambient water quality and pollutant discharges have been established in 1970. The relationship between accumulated investments and 'difference of estimated BOD based on BOD generation (PG(BOD)) and monitored BOD' (ΔBOD) suggested the critical history of pollutant discharge, water quality, and investments on the measures to improve river water quality: effects of investments were negative and not yet observed in the 1960s and the early 1970s when the total accumulated investment was less than USD 6.0 billion, effects of investments became positive in 1973, the relationship between PG(BOD) and water quality returned to the similar conditions in the 1960s after the late 1990s, and (4) positive combined effects of the measures on the River BOD quality were about 10 mg-BOD l-1 in 2010. The methods are applicable for other river basins in the world to evaluate the effectiveness of water quality improvement measures.

Water and Pollution Discharge Permit Allocation to Agricultural Zones: Application of Game Theory and Min-Max Regret Analysis

This paper presents a new game theoretic methodology for water and discharge permit allocation to agricultural zones in shared rivers. The methodology consists of four main steps: (1) initial allocation of water rights and pollutant discharge permits, (2) forming possible coalitions and optimal water and discharge permit reallocation to water users participating in a coalition to increase their total net benefit, (3) equitable benefit reallocation by utilizing some solution concepts in cooperative game theory, and (4) identifying the best water and pollutant discharge permit allocation strategies by minimizing the maximum regret in the system. A new linear form for crop water production function is used in the objective function of the water allocation optimization models. To show the efficiency and applicability of the methodology, it is applied to the Karoon-Dez river system in Iran.

Equity-based optimisation of regional water pollutant discharge amount allocation: a case study in the Tai Lake Basin

Regional allowance allocation not only matters for regional economic efficiency but also for fairness between regions or companies. It is important to work out a fair and reasonable allocation method to achieve China's goal of the gross control of pollutant discharge. This research developed an equity-based optimisation for a regional water pollutant discharge allowance allocation method, which is based on the Gini coefficient of considering socio-economic and environmental factors. Taking the Tai Lake Basin in Jiangsu Province as an example, this paper optimised the present state of distribution on the basis of an assessment of fairness of the current discharge allowance allocation status. The optimised allowance allocation results of the Tai Lake Basin were distinct from other allocation methods, and reduced the inequity of regional allowance allocation. However, the stress of equity cannot give full consideration to both environmental and economic efficiency targets. Connecting the allocation of discharge targets with an emission trading system was proposed to address the shortcomings of the Gini coefficient based method.

Interval-parameter chance-constrained fuzzy multi-objective programming for water pollution control with sustainable wetland management

Abstract Water pollution control plays a significant role in the water quality management of wetland ecosystems. In this study, an interval-parameter chance-constrained fuzzy multi-objective programming (ICFMOP) model for assisting water pollution control within a sustainable wetland management system under uncertainty was developed. The proposed ICFMOP approach not only effectively handled the uncertainties and complexities in the water pollution control management systems, it also allowed decision makers to adjust the fuzzy objective control decision variable to satisfy multiple holistic and interactive objectives. The ICFMOP model developed was then applied to a wetland water pollution control case study to assist the planning of regional wetland eco-environmental sustainability. Interval solutions of the compromise decision alternatives associated with different risk levels of constraint violations were obtained. The results were helpful for decision makers to identify desirable strategies under various social-economic, environmental and system-reliability constraints with the highest system benefits and the lowest water pollutant discharge and eco-environment impact. Moreover, tradeoffs between the multiple objectives and the constraint-violation risks could be evaluated.

Multi-level waste load allocation system for Xi’an-Xianyang Section, Weihe River

Abstract Since pollutant total amount control was introduced in China in the 1980s, many researches have focused on water environmental capacity, the allocation of pollutant load, and the pollution discharge right trading. The allocation of water pollution load is the core as well as difficult point in total amount control system of water pollutants discharge. There are a series of objects for water pollutions load allocation, including water basin, the water function zoning, administrative units, sewage outlets and pollutant discharging points. For different objects of allocation, a distribution planning must be able to meet both the regional requirements and the benefits of pollutant discharging enterprises. However, it is difficult to meet the interests of various levels by one kind method of load allocation. This paper intends to establish a new multi-level load allocation system for Xi’an-Xianyang Section, Weihe River. With large population, concentrated industrial discharging, and poor water quality, the approach needs to consider both regional development requirements and pollutant discharging point's economic interests. At the same time, for different objects at various levels, there is proper different distribution method according to the principles of efficiency and fairness in allocation. For regional water function zoning to administrative units, the environmental Gini coefficient analysis for regional allocation is applied in economic sphere to set up an appropriate allocation model for the optimal allocation. For administrative units to sewage outlets, optimal generation performance standard (GPS) method for enterprises allocation is used to improve the emission performance. The model's objective will be changed from minimum cost to greatest value. The results showed that Xi’an and Xianyang City has four counties needed to reduce the pollution load largely, respectively, because they have some prominent contradiction with the social and economic developments and the natural environment. In addition, in the key reduction region the discharge units should be cut the distribution in accordance with the ratio of distribution model. While in the maintaining present conditions regions, discharge units will have some “surplus capacity” for future emission control. This new approach for water total amount load is effective and may provide the foundation for the pollutant total amount control of Weihe River.

Treatment of Silicon Steel Wastewater with Fenton Reagent

The paper aims to find out an economic and effective treatment for the silicon steel wastewater. According to the Fenton reaction principle, chemical adsorption and chemical flocculation, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Cr6+ in the wastewater were reduced. The appropriate parameters were as follows: the mol ratio of Fe2+ to H2O2 was 1:2, the mol ratio of Fe2+ (dosage into the wastewater) to Cr6+ (content of the wastewater) was 5.2:1, pH 3-4, temperature 15-35°C. Under these conditions, the removal rate of Cr6+ and CODCr was 99.99% and 98.11% respectively, the Cr6+ and CODCr of the influent reduced from 2959mg/L and 1351mg/L to 0.421mg/L and 25.6mg/L respectively, and the effluent concentration achieved 1-class in "Steel Industrial Water Pollutant Discharge Standard(GB 13456-92)".

Effect of a low concentration of aluminum sulfate on the treatment performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor

Phosphorus is a crucial element in the eutrophication process. According to China’s water pollutant discharge Class 1A standard, treated wastewater must meet 0.5 mg/L of phosphorus prior to discharge to a sensitive water body. In recent years, wastewater treatment technologies such as membrane bioreactors have been demonstrated to achieve high-quality effluent and present the potential for wastewater reuse applications. However, an efficient and cost-effective phosphorus removal process is still not warranted. In this study, a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) with addition of a low concentration of aluminum sulfate ([mol Al : mol P ≤ 1] was used to evaluate its treatment performance. The results showed that significant phosphorus removal could be achieved with addition of a low aluminum sulfate dosage to meet national phosphorus discharge standard; however, no significant effect was observed on the removal of COD and ammonia. The addition of a low concentration of aluminum sulfate could offer as an economical solution to increase the phos phorus removal efficiency of a SMBR, and thereby improve the water quality of the water bodies.

IMSP: Integrated management system for water pollutant discharge permit based on a hybrid C/S and B/S model

IMSP is an integrated water pollutant discharge permit (WPDP) management system based on hybrid mode of Client/Server (C/S) and Browser/Server (B/S) models. IMSP provides a platform/system for both firms and Environmental Protection Bureaus (EPBs) to manage permit and can dramatically elevate the efficiency of water pollutant discharge permit management.

Analytical Study on Protective Price of Water Trading For Valley City

Abstract At present, the problem of basin water environment is pretty austere and the disorderly construction of urban sprawl along basin brings more and more serious harm to the basin water environment, which has already became the important restriction factor for development of the economy and society in China. From the perspective of modern property right economics, the most effective economical method to solve water shortage and pollution discharge problem is to establish perfect water trading market. The article studied the water trading price in market mechanism, used the related principle of environmental economics, put forward the concept of the “Protective Price”, which is the minimum price for water trading. We used the fuzzy mathematics, the model of C-Q-S and water pollution loss to calculate water engineering price, water environment price, water resources price, the investment costs of pollution control and the economic losses of water pollution. The research is the basis of the establishment of the generalized water trading market for valley city, determines the reasonable water trading price and guarantees to achieve the winwin result of environment and the economical for buyers and sellers, and provides the reference for optimizing the distribution of water resources in basin, controlling emissions of pollutants, increasing the environmental protection achievements, promoting the coordinated development of water environment and economic in basin.

Water Pollutant Discharge Indicator Estimation and Water Quality Prediction in Pak Kret District, Bangkok, Thailand

Water Pollutant Discharge Indicator Estimation and Water Quality Prediction in Pak Kret District, Bangkok, Thailand

Trading pollutant discharge permits in rivers using fuzzy nonlinear cost functions

Transferable Discharge Permit (TDP) programs in water quality management produce environmental benefit, which closely achieves the same benefit through a command-and-control approach, with comparatively lower costs. Estimating abatement cost functions is one of the greatest challenges in these trading programs. According to the fact that water flows to the lowest level uni-directionally, the Trading Ratio System (TRS) is utilized for water quality management in river systems. TRS considers the river assimilative capacity and provides the optimum trading pattern. TRS has been designed for a single water quality variable and the existing uncertainties are not incorporated. In this study, an extended version of TRS is utilized which considers the uncertainties in treatment cost functions and can be used for BOD/DO management in rivers. Then, by combining the extended TRS and a fuzzy nonlinear regression, a novel model is proposed to configure a permit trading structure and provide decision maker with a wealth of cost-effective management strategies. The proposed model has been used for trading water pollutant discharge permits in the Zarjub river in northern part of Iran. The results show that trading discharge permit in this river system is a cost-effective strategy. It is also shown that the uncertainty in the wastewater treatment cost functions can be easily considered using the fuzzy set theory.

Developing real time operating rules for trading discharge permits in rivers: Application of Bayesian Networks

Transferable discharge permit (TDP) programs show potential cost-effective methods of pollution control in river systems. Nevertheless, there remain uncertainties that, if not adequately addressed, might impair their success. Trading Ratio System (TRS) suggested by Hung and Shaw [2005. A trading-ratio system for trading water pollution discharge permits. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 49, 83–102] is a cost-effective tool for water quality management in river systems, which provides the optimum trading pattern among dischargers. TRS has been designed for a single conservative water quality variable and the existing uncertainties are not incorporated. In this study, TRS is extended to be applicable to Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) management in river systems and uncertainties in input variables of river water quality simulation model are also considered. In the proposed methodology, low water quality is also quantified as a fuzzy event and fuzzy risk of violating the water quality standards is estimated at each checkpoint along the river. The Extended Trading Ratio System (ETRS) is used in a Monte Carlo Analysis to provide the required data for training and validating a Bayesian Network (BN). The trained BN can be used for real time river water quality management and provides the probability density functions of treatment levels and trading discharge permit policies. The methodology is successfully applied to the Zarjub River in the northern part of Iran to show its usefulness as a cost-effective and risk-informed decision-making tool in real time river water quality management.

Relationships between water pollutant discharges per capita (PDCs) and indicators of economic level, water supply and sanitation in developing countries

Water pollutant discharges per capita (PDCs) as indicators to evaluate quantitatively domestic wastewater pollutant discharges to the ambient water were applied to eight international coastal zones and lakeside regions. Statistical analyses were conducted to find the relationships between PDCs and water, sanitation and economic parameters including purchase power parity based gross national income (PPP-GNI) per capita, proportions of access to safe drinking water and appropriate sanitation, domestic water usage amount, and integrated parameters of water, sanitation and economic indicators (WSEI 1, 2). Two of the important findings from the regression analyses results were PDC-BOD correlated with PPP-GNI per capita with 3rd-order regression, and PDC-TP correlated with WSEI 1 positively with 10% significance, besides smaller adjusted regression coefficients. t-values of partial regression coefficients between PDC-TP and WSEI 2 increased in the most analyses cases compared to those between PDC-TP and WSEI 1, which showed improvement of the indices. Empirical estimations were also conducted based on the regression analyses results and distributions of PDCs and PPP-GNI per capita on the graphs. Six components generated by the principle component analysis (PCA) contributed 99% of the parameters. The first component represented access to sanitation, second one represented household connection of safe drinking water, third one represented areal equipment of water supply in urban area, fourth one represented domestic water usage amount, fifth one represented areal equipment of water supply, and sixth one represented income per capita and sanitation. Although some statistically significances of the multiple linear regression analysis were observed, the relationships between PDCs and the water supply parameters were considered as complicated in regards to areal equipment and household connection, and in whole country and in urban area. Possible chronological relationships between PDC-BOD and water supply equipment were considered based on the results of the multiple linear regression analyses and PCA. Based on the considerations of the water pollutant discharges and the economic related parameters relationships, domestic wastewater treatment facility deployments and improvements on pollutant discharges reduction for the water quality improvement in the receiving water bodies were recommended, which would lead the relationship curves between the water, sanitation and economic related indicators and PDCs to move downward.

Regionalization of water environmental risk and spatial development guidance: a case study of Wuxi City

基于区域开发与水环境保护的相互作用关系,本文根据河湖水环境质量要求对地区开发的约束影响,分析水环境约束的区域差异及相应区域开发中水污染物排放的控制.以无锡市为例,综合考虑河湖水文及流域地貌等自然地理要素,将全市域划分为两个一级环境单元区.34个二级子环境单元区,作为水环境约束评价的基本单元;选择河湖水体使用功能、水体通达性、水质目标和引水通道、地貌特征等要素作为表征水环境约束的评价因子,运用GIS空间分析和统计分析方法,综合评价全市域水环境约束的等级分区.以此作为空间开发引导的依据,其中水环境约束较弱的地区可以适当布局水污染物排放量较大的生产生活项目.而水环境约束较强的地区需要严格控制乃至禁止水污染物排放量大的项目建设.;Based on the relationship between regional development and water environment protect and affection of water environmentquality of river and lake on regional development, the paper analysed regional disparity of water environmental risk and controllingof water pollution discharge in regional development. Taking Wuxi as a case, comprehensively considering physical geographicalfactors such as river and lake hydrological condition, watershed geomorphic condition etc, the whole city had been divided into twosections of the first grade environmental cells, thirty four sections of the second grade environment sub-cells, as estimating cells ofwater environmental risk. According to the relationships between land development and change of water environments, severalfactors had been selected, such as function of water utilization, connecting condition to water body (Lake Taihu, Yangtze River, etc)outside, water quality needs and the channels of leading water, and geomorphic condition for evaluating and regionalize the risk ofwater environments for four grads by using GIS spatial analyzing and statistic analyzing methods. As a result, the area with big riskof water environments would not allow the development of water polluting factory and inhabitant quarter. It could be the one ofguidances for the spatial development.

Pollutant loads per capita flowing into public water bodies and pollutant discharges per capita in the coastal regions including developing countries.

Pollutant discharges per capita were investigated with three statistical methods, 1) three-order regression analysis with Purchase Power Parity based Gross National Income, PPP-GNI, 2) relationship with water, sanitation and economic index (WSEI), a compound index which was introduced by the author, and 3) principle component analysis with first, second and third order of PPP-GNI, rates of access to sanitary facilities and safe drinking water in urban areas and whole countries or areas, and water usage amounts per capita in households. Correlations of BOD discharges per capita with PPP-GNI, and those with WSEI were not clearly observed, which showed the necessity of further considerations of water environmental data and analysis methods, however, it was suggested that the values of BOD discharges per capita could be categorized by regions. Based on the results of the principle component analysis, it was suggested that wastewater facilities deployment in urban areas affected BOD discharge per capita, and increase of the water usage amounts per capita in households should be accompanied with deployment of wastewater treatment facilities.

Analysis of water demand and water pollutant discharge using a regional input–output table: An application to the City of Chongqing, upstream of the Three Gorges Dam in China

China has faced serious water problems as a result of economic growth and some development projects and it is widely thought that integrated management, including socio-economic factors in each basin unit, is effective. Hence, the target of this paper is to evaluate the structures of water demand and water pollutant discharge with socio-economic activities in the City of Chongqing, the main city upstream of the Three Gorges Dam. First we have developed a methodology for estimating water demand and water pollutants (carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus) based on an inter-industry analysis model, and then applied it to the City of Chongqing. As a result, we conclude that industry is the largest source of water demand and water pollutants in the City of Chongqing and accounts for more than 50% of the total of each. Water demand from agriculture, forestry and livestock accounts for 35% of the total, and about 20% of water pollutants are discharged from agriculture, forestry and livestock. Furthermore, water pollutants from households constitute more than 20% of the total in the City of Chongqing though water demand and wastewater account for less than 15% of each total. In addition, it becomes clear that about 20% of the water demand and water pollutant discharge in the City of Chongqing is caused by other provinces and foreign countries, with most of the demand and discharge being industrial.