Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Trade-off between water pollution prevention, agriculture profit, and farmer practice—an optimization methodology for discussion on land-use adjustment in China

  • Published:
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Agricultural decision-making to control nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution may not be efficiently implemented, if there is no appropriate cost-benefit analysis on agricultural management practices. This paper presents an interval-fuzzy linear programming (IFLP) model to deal with the trade-off between agricultural revenue, NPS pollution control, and alternative practices through land adjustment for Wuchuan catchment, a typical agricultural area in Jiulong River watershed, Fujian Province of China. From the results, the lower combination of practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, and practice 7 with the land area of 12.6, 5.2, 145.2, and 85.3 hm2, respectively, could reduce NPS pollution load by 10 %. The combination yields an income of 98,580 Chinese Yuan/a. If the pollution reduction is 15 %, the higher combination need practice 1, practice 2, practice 3, practice 5, and practice 7 with the land area of 54.4, 23.6, 18.0, 6.3, and 85.3 hm2, respectively. The income of this combination is 915,170 Chinese Yuan/a. The sensitivity analysis of IFLP indicates that the cost-effective practices are ranked as follows: practice 7 > practice 2 > practice 1 > practice 5 > practice 3 > practice 6 > practice 4. In addition, the uncertainties in the agriculture NPS pollution control system could be effectively quantified by the IFLP model. Furthermore, to accomplish a reasonable and applicable project of land-use adjustment, decision-makers could also integrate above solutions with their own experience and other information.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arnold, J. G., Allen, P. M., & Bernhardt, G. A. (1993). Comprehensive surface-groundwater flow model. Journal of Hydrology, 142, 47–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartfeld, E. (1993). Point-nonpoint source trading: looking beyond the potential cost savings. Environmental Law, 23(1), 43–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhuyan, S. J., Koelliker, J. K., Marzen, L. J., & Harrington, J. A., Jr. (2003). An integrated approach for water quality assessment of a Kansas watershed. Environmental Modelling & Software, 18(5), 473–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cao, W. Z., & Zhu, H. J. (2000). Characteristics and control of regional agricultural ecosystems in Fujian province. Beijing: China Agriculture Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S. R., Caraco, N. F., Correl, D. L., Howarth, R. W., Sharpley, A. N., & Smith, V. H. (1998). Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus and nitrogen. Ecological Applications, 8, 559–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chanas, S., & Zielinski, P. (2000). On the equivalence of two optimization methods for fuzzy linear programming problems. European Journal of Operational Research, 121(1), 56–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, N. B., & Lu, H. Y. (1997). A new approach for long-term planning of solid waste management system using fuzzy global criterion. Journal of Environmental Science and Health-A, 32(4), 1025–1047.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, N. W., Hong, H. S., Cao, W. Z., Zhang, Y. Z., Zeng, Y., & Wang, W. P. (2006). Assessment of management practices in a small agricultural watershed in southeast China. Journal of Environmental Science and Health-A, 41(7), 1257–1269.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Correll, D. L. (1996). Buffer zones and water quality protection: general principles. In N. E. Haycock, T. P. Burt, K. W. T. Goulding, & G. Pinay (Eds.), Buffer zones: their processes and potential in water protection (pp. 7–20). Hertfordshire: Quest Environmental.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cui, L., Chen, L. R., Li, Y. P., Huang, G. H., Li, W., & Xie, Y. L. (2011). An interval-based regret-analysis method for identifying long-term municipal solid waste management policy under uncertainty. Journal of Environmental Management, 92(6), 1484–1494.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hassen, M., Fekadu, Y., & Gate, Z. (2004). Validation of agricultural non-point source (AGNPS) pollution model in Kori watershed, South Wollo, Ethiopia. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 6(2), 97–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Q., Huang, G. H., Cai, Y. P., & Sun, W. (2014). Planning of electric power generation systems under multiple uncertainties and constraint-violation levels. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 23(1), 55–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, G. H., Baetz, B. W., & Patry, G. G. (1993). A grey fuzzy linear programming approach for municipal solid waste management planning under uncertainty. Civil Engineering Systems, 10, 123–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, G. H., Baetz, B. W., & Patry, G. G. (1994a). Grey dynamic programming for solid waste management planning under uncertainty. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 120(3), 132–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, G. H., Baetz, B. W., & Patry, G. G. (1994b). Grey chance-constrained programming: application to regional solid waste management planning. In K. W. Hipel & L. Fang (Eds.), Effective environmental management for sustainable development (pp. 267–280). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, G. H., Baetz, B. W., & Patry, G. G. (1995a). Grey quadratic programming and its application to municipal solid waste management planning under uncertainty. Engineering Optimization, 23, 201–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, G. H., Baetz, B. W., & Patry, G. G. (1995b). Grey integer programming: an application to waste management planning under uncertainty. European Journal of Operational Research, 83, 594–620.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. L., Morton, A. B., Joseph, F. D., & Ranjithan, S. R. (2013). A generalized multistage optimization modeling framework for life cycle assessment-based integrated solid waste management. Environmental Modelling & Software, 50, 51–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeroen, C. J. G., Walter, A. H. R., Andre, J., Derk, J. S., Henk, R., & Martin, K. V. I. (2007). Exploring multi-scale trade-offs between nature conservation, agricultural profits and landscape quality—a methodology to support discussions on land-use perspectives. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 120, 58–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y. W., Bogardi, I., & Stansbury, J. (1991). Fuzzy decision making in dredged-material management. Journal of Environmental Engineering, ASCE, 117(2), 614–628.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. B. (2003). Integration of stochastic programming and factorial design for optimal reservoir operation. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 1(2), 12–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y. P., Huang, G. H., Li, H. Z., & Liu, J. (2014). A recourse-based interval fuzzy programming model for point–nonpoint source effluent trading under uncertainty. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 1–17. doi:10.1111/jawr.12183.

  • LINDO Systems Inc. (2006). LINGO. http://lindo.com/products/lingo/lingom.html.

  • Liu, J. C., Zhang, L. P., Zhang, Y. Z., Chen, N. W., & Hong, H. S. (2005). A treatment system of livestock drainage by improving land-use in dense hoggery aera, southeast China. Conference of the International-Water-Association (IWA), Future of Urban Wastewater Systems - Decentralisation and Reuse, 219–224.

  • Liu, J. C., Zhang, L. P., Zhang, Y. Z., & Hong, H. S. (2005). An inexact system programming for agricultural land utilization based on non-point source pollution control in Wuchuang watershed. Conference of the International Society for Environmental Information Sciences on Environmental Informatics, Environmental Informatics, 391–397.

  • Liu, J. C., Zhang, L. P., Zeng, Y., Chen, N. W., Chen, W. C., Li, Y. Y., & Hong, H. S. (2006). Mixed integer programming for a swine manure handling system in the Jiulong River Watershed. Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management, 9(1), 33–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J. C., Zhang, L. P., Zhang, Y. Z., Hong, H. S., & Deng, H. B. (2008). Validation of agricultural non-point source pollution model (AGNPS) on a catchment in Jiulong river watershed, China. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 20(5), 599–606.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Luo, B., Maqsood, I., Yin, Y. Y., Huang, G. H., & Cohen, S. J. (2003). Adaption to climate change through water trading under uncertainty—an inexact two-stage nonlinear programming approach. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 2(2), 58–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malik, A. S., Letson, D., & Crutchfield, S. R. (1993). Point/nonpoint source trading of pollution abatement: choosing the right trading ratio. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 75, 959–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maqsood, I., & Huang, G. H. (2003). A two-stage interval-stochastic programming model for waste management under uncertainty. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, 53, 540–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nixon, S. W., Granger, S. L., & Nowicki, B. L. (1995). An assessment of the annual mass balance of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in Narragansett Bay. Biogeochemistry, 35, 15–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pionke, H. B., Gburek, W. J., & Sharpley, A. N. (2000). Critical source area controls on water quality in an agricultural watershed located in the Chesapeake Basin. Ecological Engineering, 14, 325–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, B. A., Woolhiser, D. A., Wischmeier, W. D., Caro, J. H., & Frere, M. H. (1975). Control of water pollution from cropland, Volume 1, A manual for guideline development, Report Nos. EPA-600/2-75 026a and ARS H-5-1. USEPA/USDA, Washington, D C.

  • Su, J., Xi, B. D., Yao, B., Huang, G. H., Lu, H. W., He, L., & Ji, D. F. (2011). Inexact fuzzy full-infinite mixed-integer programming method for an integrated air and waste management system. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 137(4), 370–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugiharto, T., McIntosh, T. H., Uhrig, R. C., & Lardinois, J. J. (1994). Modeling alternatives to reduce dairy farm and watershed NPS pollution. Journal of Environmental Quality, 23, 18–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US-NRC (United States National Research Council). (1993). Soil and water quality, an agenda for agriculture. Committee on Long-Range Soil and Water Conservation. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek, P. M., Aber, J. D., Howarth, R. W., Likens, G. E., Matson, P. A., Schindler, D. W., Schlesinger, W. H., & Tilman, D. G. (1997). Human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle: sources and consequences. Ecological Applications, 7, 737–750.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., & Huang, G. H. (2013a). A two-stage mixed-integer fuzzy programming with interval-valued membership functions approach for flood-diversion planning. Journal of Environmental Management, 117, 208–218.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., & Huang, G. H. (2013b). An interval-parameter two-stage stochastic fuzzy program with type-2 membership functions: an application to water resources management. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 27, 1493–1506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, S., Huang, G. H., Lu, H. W., & Li, Y. P. (2011). An interval-valued fuzzy linear programming with infinite α-cuts method for environmental management under uncertainty. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 25(2), 211–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X. W., Cai, Y., Chen, J. J., & Dai, C. (2013). A grey-forecasting interval-parameter mixed-integer programming approach for integrated electric-environmental management—a case study of Beijing. Energy, 63, 334–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeomans, J. S., & Huang, G. H. (2003). An evolutionary grey, hop, skip, and jump approach: generating alternative policies for the expansion of waste management. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 1(1), 37–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeomans, J. S., Huang, G. H., & Yoogalingam, R. (2003). Combining simulation with evolutionary algorithms for optimal planning under uncertainty: an application to municipal solid waste management planning in the regional municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 2(1), 11–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Y. Z. (2003). Study on agricultural non-point source pollution of Wuchuan catchment in upstream Jiulong River. Xiamen: Xiamen University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, M., Liu, Q. Y., Chen, D. Y., Li, J. Y., & Ao, Y. H. (2009). Environmental pressure of contamination from livestock and poultry and its risk assessment in Shenyang. Journal of Shenyang Agricultural University, 40(6), 698–702.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zou, R., Lung, W. S., Guo, H. C., & Huang, G. H. (2000). Independent variable controlled grey fuzzy linear programming approach for waste flow allocation planning. Engineering Optimization, 33(1), 87–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Most of the work in this paper was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011BAG07B05-3), the Key Scientific Project of the Ten-Year Plan of Fujian Province of China (No. 2002H009), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 70325002). Special thanks go to Prof. Zhao Jing-zhu for his comments on the further revision of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Transport Planning and Research Institute, Ministry of Transport, Building A2 of Shuguangxili,Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100028, China

    Liu Jianchang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Environmental Science Research Center of Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Zhang Luoping

  3. Fujian Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Environmental Protection Bureau of Fujian Province, Fuzhou, 361005, China

    Zhang Yuzhen

  4. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Deng Hongbing

Authors
  1. Liu Jianchang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhang Luoping
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhang Yuzhen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Deng Hongbing
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liu Jianchang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jianchang, L., Luoping, Z., Yuzhen, Z. et al. Trade-off between water pollution prevention, agriculture profit, and farmer practice—an optimization methodology for discussion on land-use adjustment in China. Environ Monit Assess 187, 4104 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4104-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4104-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation