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Risk equivalent seasonal waste load allocation
Author(s) -
Rossman Lewis A.
Publication year - 1989
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/wr025i010p02083
Subject(s) - environmental science , water quality , effluent , wastewater , pollutant , seasonality , environmental engineering , water resource management , statistics , mathematics , ecology , biology
Seasonal wastewater discharge programs employ different effluent standards during different times of the year to take advantage of the variation in a receiving water's susceptibility to adverse impacts. These programs should try to achieve the maximum economic benefits possible without increasing the risk of water quality impairment. A method is developed for designing seasonal programs for individual dischargers that limits the risk of one or more water quality standard violations in any year. The key elements involve (1) treating seasonal receiving water susceptibility to water quality impairment as a random variable, (2) assuming Markov‐like behavior of these random variables between seasons, and (3) using a nonlinear programming model to find seasonal discharge limits that minimize waste treatment efforts while maintaining an acceptable annual risk of water quality violation. A case study of controlling ammonia toxicity is presented as well as a comparison of the potential savings available from seasonalization for several pollutants on two rivers with differing seasonal regimes.