Centre for Water Systems, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK.
Centre for Water Systems, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QF, UK.
Water Res. 2016 Sep 15;101:114-126. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.078. Epub 2016 May 27.
End-of-pipe permitting is a widely practised approach to control effluent discharges from wastewater treatment plants. However, the effectiveness of the traditional regulation paradigm is being challenged by increasingly complex environmental issues, ever growing public expectations on water quality and pressures to reduce operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions. To minimise overall environmental impacts from urban wastewater treatment, an operational strategy-based permitting approach is proposed and a four-step decision framework is established: 1) define performance indicators to represent stakeholders' interests, 2) optimise operational strategies of urban wastewater systems in accordance to the indicators, 3) screen high performance solutions, and 4) derive permits of operational strategies of the wastewater treatment plant. Results from a case study show that operational cost, variability of wastewater treatment efficiency and environmental risk can be simultaneously reduced by at least 7%, 70% and 78% respectively using an optimal integrated operational strategy compared to the baseline scenario. However, trade-offs exist between the objectives thus highlighting the need of expansion of the prevailing wastewater management paradigm beyond the narrow focus on effluent water quality of wastewater treatment plants. Rather, systems thinking should be embraced by integrated control of all forms of urban wastewater discharges and coordinated regulation of environmental risk and treatment cost effectiveness. It is also demonstrated through the case study that permitting operational strategies could yield more environmentally protective solutions without entailing more cost than the conventional end-of-pipe permitting approach. The proposed four-step permitting framework builds on the latest computational techniques (e.g. integrated modelling, multi-objective optimisation, visual analytics) to efficiently optimise and interactively identify high performance solutions. It could facilitate transparent decision making on water quality management as stakeholders are involved in the entire process and their interests are explicitly evaluated using quantitative metrics and trade-offs considered in the decision making process. We conclude that the operational strategy-based permitting shows promising for regulators and water service providers alike.
末端管制许可（End-of-pipe permitting）是一种广泛应用的控制废水处理厂污水排放的方法。然而，传统的监管模式在日益复杂的环境问题、公众对水质的期望不断提高以及降低运营成本和温室气体排放的压力下，其有效性正受到挑战。为了将城市污水处理的整体环境影响降到最低，提出了一种基于运营策略的许可方法，并建立了一个四步决策框架：1）定义代表利益相关者利益的绩效指标，2）根据指标优化城市废水系统的运营策略，3）筛选高性能解决方案，4）制定污水处理厂的运营策略许可。案例研究结果表明，与基准情景相比，采用最优综合运营策略可使运营成本、污水处理效率的变异性和环境风险分别至少降低 7%、70%和 78%。然而，各目标之间存在权衡，这突出表明需要将现行的废水管理模式从狭隘的污水处理厂出水水质重点扩展到涵盖所有形式的城市废水排放的综合控制和环境风险与处理成本效益的协调监管。相反，应该通过综合控制所有形式的城市废水排放和协调环境风险和处理成本效益来采用系统思维。案例研究还表明，与传统的末端管制许可方法相比，许可运营策略可以在不增加成本的情况下提供更具环保保护性的解决方案。所提出的四步许可框架建立在最新的计算技术（例如综合建模、多目标优化、可视化分析）的基础上，以有效地优化和交互式地识别高性能解决方案。它可以促进水质管理的透明决策，因为利益相关者参与整个过程，并且使用定量指标明确评估他们的利益，并在决策过程中考虑权衡。我们得出结论，基于运营策略的许可对监管机构和水务服务提供商都具有广阔的前景。
