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Economic Aspects in the Investigation of Ground‐Water Contamination Episodes
Author(s) -
Shechter Mordechai
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1985.tb02792.x
Subject(s) - damages , environmental science , aquifer , groundwater , remedial education , pollution , contamination , remedial action , water pollution , water resource management , environmental planning , risk analysis (engineering) , environmental engineering , environmental resource management , business , engineering , environmental remediation , mathematics , ecology , chemistry , mathematics education , geotechnical engineering , political science , environmental chemistry , law , biology
The paper examines some economic aspects of ground‐water pollution, focusing on the exploitation of an aquifer as a source of drinking water. Using the contamination episode at Price Landfill, New Jersey, as a case study, it addresses analytical and information issues which characterize ground‐water pollution. Involved here are uncertainties associated with the environmental medium (especially knowledge of solute‐transport processes), and health risk assessment (principally dose‐response relationships). The field application employed two approaches to the modeling of the physical‐chemical processes to derive mortality risk estimates. These estimates in turn form the basis for preliminary assessment of expected damages: reduced longevity, and cost of control and remedial measures. The results are offered as an essential informational input for a benefit‐cost analysis of ground‐water protection and management policies.