Nazeryzadeh Najmeh, Nikoo Mohammad Reza, Afzali Seied Hosein
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Aug;365:121527. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121527. Epub 2024 Jun 22.
Water scarcity poses a significant challenge to sustainable development, necessitating innovative approaches to manage limited resources efficiently. Effective water resource management involves not just the conservation and distribution of freshwater supplies but also the strategic reuse of treated wastewater (TWW). This study proposes a novel approach for the optimal allocation of treated wastewater among three key sectors (user agents): agriculture, industry, and urban green space. Recognizing the intricate interplays among these sectors, System Dynamics (SD) and Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) were integrated in a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) to capture the interactions and feedback mechanisms inherent within treated wastewater allocation systems. The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) serves as the optimization tool, enabling the identification of optimal allocation strategies across various management scenarios over a 25-year simulation period. Our research navigates the complexities of long-term resource management, accounting for each sector's evolving its objectives and guidelines along the whole system objectives and strategies. The outcomes demonstrate how treated wastewater can be effectively distributed to support economic and social equity -as the system objectives-while supporting agricultural and industrial growth and enhancing efficiency and social well-being -reflecting individual agent objectives-within the CAS framework. The research explores four distinct management scenarios, each prioritizing different sectors to address water resource management challenges. Notably, all four scenarios align with the strategies required by the ruler (government), providing strategic guidance to water resource managers for decision-making. The simulation results reveal a scenario where all sectors' demands are met, with Scenario 4 emerging as the most effective. Scenario 4 aligned with the objectives and guidelines of each sector, demonstrating significant improvements in the CY (Agriculture agent index; increased from 0.2 to 0.68), IGI (Industry agent index; increased from 1 to 1.63), and GAI (Urban Green Space agent index; increased from 1 to 1.23) indices over the 25-year simulation period. By providing a strategic blueprint for policymakers and stakeholders, this study contributes significantly to the discourse on sustainable water resource management, presenting a replicable model for similar contexts globally, where judicious allocation of treated wastewater is paramount for achieving harmony between human activity and ecological preservation.
水资源短缺对可持续发展构成了重大挑战，因此需要创新方法来有效管理有限的资源。有效的水资源管理不仅涉及淡水供应的保护和分配，还包括经处理废水（TWW）的战略再利用。本研究提出了一种新颖的方法，用于在三个关键部门（用户主体）之间优化分配经处理废水：农业、工业和城市绿地。认识到这些部门之间复杂的相互作用，将系统动力学（SD）和基于主体的建模（ABM）集成到一个复杂适应系统（CAS）中，以捕捉经处理废水分配系统中固有的相互作用和反馈机制。非支配排序遗传算法II（NSGA-II）作为优化工具，能够在25年的模拟期内识别各种管理情景下的最优分配策略。我们的研究应对了长期资源管理的复杂性，考虑了每个部门如何根据整个系统的目标和战略来调整其目标和指导方针。结果表明，在复杂适应系统框架内，经处理废水如何能够有效地分配，以支持经济和社会公平（作为系统目标），同时支持农业和工业增长，并提高效率和社会福祉（反映个体主体目标）。该研究探索了四种不同的管理情景，每种情景都优先考虑不同的部门，以应对水资源管理挑战。值得注意的是，所有四种情景都与统治者（政府）要求的战略一致，为水资源管理者的决策提供了战略指导。模拟结果揭示了一种所有部门需求都得到满足的情景，情景4被证明是最有效的。情景4与每个部门的目标和指导方针一致，在25年的模拟期内，CY（农业主体指数；从0.2增加到0.68）、IGI（工业主体指数；从1增加到1.63）和GAI（城市绿地主体指数；从1增加到1.23）指数都有显著提高。通过为政策制定者和利益相关者提供战略蓝图，本研究为可持续水资源管理的讨论做出了重大贡献，为全球类似背景提供了一个可复制的模型，在这些背景下，明智地分配经处理废水对于实现人类活动与生态保护之间的和谐至关重要。
