Multiobjective optimization in water quality and land management

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Abstract
A multiobjective planning framework for a river basin that considers both point and nonpoint source pollutants is presented. The need for an intergrated approach to pollution abatement originating from these two sources is discussed in the light of Public Law 92‐500. The need for including multiple objective functions in their noncommensurable formats and units are also discussed. Two broad‐based planning objectives considered are: economic development and environmental quality. The environmental quality model includes the following multiple objectives: (1) soil erosion, (2) phosphorus, (3) biological oxygen demanding load in the stream. Noninferior solutions and trade‐offs among the objectives are examined for several alternative planning scenarios using the surrogate worth trade‐off (SWT) method. The decision‐maker's role in obtaining the basin‐wide plan is discussed. Finally, the planning framework is applied to the Maumee River Basin study.