Application of water pollution virtual disposal cost approach for environmental damage value quantification of oil removal and cleaning wastewater.

Abstract Many countries’ laws stipulate compensation from responsible parties for environmental damage events, while the amount of environmental damage is commonly determined through environmental damage valuation. For cases where the environmental damage facts are unclear, or the ecological environment has naturally recovered, or the cost of restoration projects far exceeds their benefits, China implemented Technical Guidelines for Identification and Assessment of Ecological Environment Damage Part 2: Water Pollution Virtual Disposal Cost Approach (GB/T 39793.2–2020) in 2021, using the water pollution virtual disposal cost approach to calculate the amount of damage to surface water environments. However, problems such as inconsistent scope of application, inaccurate calculation of unit treatment costs, and biased parameter selection still exist in current practical applications. Therefore, this study, based on GB/T 39793.2–2020, combined with a case of illegal discharge of oil removal and cleaning wastewater, illustrated how to avoid common mistakes in the application of the water pollution virtual disposal cost approach and calculated the amount of environmental damage, providing a new method for calculating unit treatment costs. The results showed that the unit treatment cost of oil removal and cleaning wastewater was around 74.1 yuan/ton, and the environmental damage caused by the illegal discharge of oil removal and cleaning wastewater amounted to 186031.8 yuan. This study will advance the research progress of the virtual disposal cost approach for water pollution and provide crucial technical references for future ecological environment damage assessment.