The fair allocation of river pollution assimilation capacity among stakeholders (polluters) is one of the most critical issues in river water quality management. In this study, the bankruptcy rules approach was employed to address this challenge. To this end, the QUAL2Kw water quality simulation model was linked with the particle swarm optimization algorithm, incorporating the four bankruptcy rules constrained equal awards (CEA), constrained equal loss, proportional (P), and Talmud as constraints. The objective function of the study is to maintain water quality, measured by biochemical oxygen demand, within standard limits along the river by optimally allocating pollutant loads. The applicability of this method was evaluated in the Abbas-Abad mountainous river, located in a semiarid basin in Iran. The results indicated that, using this modeling approach and based on the bankruptcy rules investigated, river pollution was maintained within standard limits. However, from the perspective of fairness among stakeholders, the P rule appears to be the most equitable, as each point-source polluter discharges a proportionate share of their pollution load into the river. On the other hand, from the perspective of maximizing pollutant discharge while still maintaining water quality standards or, in other words, enhancing the river’s self-purification capacity, the CEA rule is the most effective. This is because it allows for the highest total pollutant discharge, resulting in lower overall treatment costs for polluters and greater reliance on the river’s natural self-purification.
Babamiri et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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