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Cost efficiency of time‐varying discharge permit programs for water quality management
Author(s) -
Eheart J. Wayland,
Brill E. Downey,
Lence Barbara J.,
Kilgore John D.,
Uber James G.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr023i002p00245
Subject(s) - environmental science , water quality , control (management) , process (computing) , structuring , computer science , wastewater , pollution , quality (philosophy) , environmental economics , environmental engineering , business , economics , ecology , finance , biology , operating system , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence
Dynamic permits programs for water pollution control have the potential for achieving higher water quality at lower social cost by allowing discharge rates that increase and decrease according to changes in the assimilative capacity of the watercourse. This paper examines various methods for structuring dynamic permits programs, including transferable permit programs. Through two studies, the estimated costs of such programs are compared to those of traditional programs. The first study is a simulation of permit programs for biochemical oxygen demand control for 10 dischargers on the Willamette River in Oregon. The second is a study of seven hypothetical treatment plants using a two‐season optimization model. The results of the first study show significant potential cost savings under dynamic permits, while the results of the second, for which the capital options are limited to variations in one type of wastewater treatment process train, show an insignificant improvement in overall cost.