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Application of an Environmental Decision Support System to a Water Quality Trading Program Affected by Surface Water Diversions

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Abstract

Environmental decision support systems (EDSSs) are an emerging tool used to integrate the evaluation of highly complex and interrelated physicochemical, biological, hydrological, social, and economic aspects of environmental problems. An EDSS approach is developed to address hot-spot concerns for a water quality trading program intended to implement the total maximum daily load (TMDL) for phosphorus in the Non-Tidal Passaic River Basin of New Jersey. Twenty-two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) spread throughout the watershed are considered the major sources of phosphorus loading to the river system. Periodic surface water diversions to a major reservoir from the confluence of two key tributaries alter the natural hydrology of the watershed and must be considered in the development of a trading framework that ensures protection of water quality. An EDSS is applied that enables the selection of a water quality trading framework that protects the watershed from phosphorus-induced hot spots. The EDSS employs Simon’s (1960) three stages of the decision-making process: intelligence, design, and choice. The identification of two potential hot spots and three diversion scenarios enables the delineation of three management areas for buying and selling of phosphorus credits among WWTPs. The result shows that the most conservative option entails consideration of two possible diversion scenarios, and trading between management areas is restricted accordingly. The method described here is believed to be the first application of an EDSS to a water quality trading program that explicitly accounts for surface water diversions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by US EPA Targeted Watershed Grant Agreement No. WS97284104-0. The authors are grateful to two reviewers for their insightful comments, as well as to Dr. Richard Boisvert, Dr. William Goldfarb, Dr. Gregory Poe, Dr. Peter Strom, Dr. Christopher Uchrin, Jeffrey Potent, Yukako Sado, and Lisa Galloway Evrard for their contributions to the development of the Non-Tidal Passaic River Basin water quality trading program. In addition, the authors would like to thank USEPA Region 2 and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The research described in this paper has been funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Targeted Watershed Grant Program and the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Fellowship Program. EPA has not officially endorsed this publication and the views expressed herein may not reflect the views of the EPA.

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  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Cook College, Rutgers University, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Christopher C. Obropta, Mehran Niazi & Josef S. Kardos

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  1. Christopher C. Obropta
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  2. Mehran Niazi
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  3. Josef S. Kardos
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Correspondence to Christopher C. Obropta.

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Obropta, C.C., Niazi, M. & Kardos, J.S. Application of an Environmental Decision Support System to a Water Quality Trading Program Affected by Surface Water Diversions. Environmental Management 42, 946–956 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9153-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-008-9153-z

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