A bankruptcy method for pollution load reallocation in river systems

Abstract This study forms the basis and sets practical guidelines for developing river water quality management strategies for resolving conflicts related to the allocation of pollution discharge permits using bankruptcy methods. This approach was implemented by changing the concepts and considering the river self-purification potential (capacity) as an asset which is to be shared among various beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are the point sources which release their wastewater to the river with minimum treatment costs. Four commonly used bankruptcy methods in the water resources allocation literature are used here to develop new river bankruptcy solution methods for allocating pollution share to the riparian parties of river systems. For this purpose, the Qual2 K river water quality simulation model is integrated with a particle swarm optimization (PSO) model while various pollution loadings discharge policies have been determined based on the bankruptcy method. This method was employed in one of the most polluted rivers of northern Iran, which is the source of eutrophication for Anzali International Wetland. The results show that the application of this method could facilitate the conflict resolution among different beneficiaries in order to improve the conditions of river water quality.