An economic and environmental balance in a river basin using interactive multiobjective optimization

Abstract

In this work on the management of water quality in a river basin by means of multiobjective programming, the programming model consists of three objectives that include simultaneously both economic and environmental factors. These objectives are the water quality of the rivers, the cost of wastewater treatment in the whole river basin, and the assimilative capacity of the rivers. In particular, this research is the first to take into account the assimilative capacity of the rivers. For practical application this paper proposes a method of interactive multiobjective programming, the step method. Furthermore, to illustrate the application of the technique to water quality management problems we use the basin of the Tou‐Chen River, Taiwan. The results show that this method work satisfactorily to improve the water quality, to ascertain the economic cost of wastewater treatment, and to allocate allowable loading in a manner of equality from noninferior solutions. Alternatively, this method provide important information for regulatory agencies to implement pollution control of river water.

Key words:

• Interactive Multiobjective Programming
• Step Method
• Noninferior Solutions
• Water Quality
• Assimilative Capacity
• Cost of Wastewater Treatment
• Equality