Use of goal programming and integer programming for water quality management—A case study of Gaza Strip

This paper describes a project dealing with achieving an optimum mix of water from different underground wells, each having different amounts of nitrates and chlorides. The amounts of chlorides and nitrates in each of the wells may be higher or lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Therefore, the optimum mix would be the one that meets WHO standard which is 250 mg/l for chlorides and 50 mg/l for nitrates. A goal programming model was developed to identify the combination of wells along with the amounts of water from each well that upon mixing would result in minimizing the deviation of the amounts of chlorides and nitrates from the standards set by WHO. The output of the goal programming model along with the coordinates of the wells identified above was then used for a second model that determines the locations of the mixing points “reservoirs” in such a way that minimizes the total

Water Allocation for Agricultural Use Considering Treated Wastewater, Public Health Risk, and Economic Issues

Increasing demand on limited water resources calls for more efficient and improved approaches to maximize the benefits of water use. Typically, agricultural water use has the largest share among all water use sectors. Therefore, finding the best agricultural water management alternatives to maximize profit and reduce financial and other related risks under limited water availability is essential. Treated wastewater is an important alternative source of agricultural water which has the potential to reduce the stress on freshwater sources from urban and industrial sectors. Thus, further research on optimal agricultural water management is needed to find the best management alternatives that address profitability and reduce stress on freshwater supplies, and related risks, by considering the potential use of treated wastewater when available. The overall goal of this work is to address this research need through an integrated methodology that uses irrigation, economics, and environmental and public health principles. This dissertation consists of three parts. The analysis in the first part determines the optimal crop pattern that maximizes profit under limited water supply that can be applied at regional scale farming operations. The goal is to find different alternatives of land and crop patterns that increase profit and reduce financial risk of not achieving a given revenue target. The second part extends the work of the first part to include the use of treated wastewater to reduce the stress on freshwater sources while maximizing profitability and minimizing public health and environmental concerns. The third part evaluates the economic benefits and limitations of using treated wastewater for agriculture on the urban and industrial sectors. This part also discusses other alternatives such as desalination that increase the net economic benefits, reduce the price of water, and assesses the needs in the institutional setting to encourage the use of treated wastewater in agriculture. The Bear River Valley of Utah was used as the study area for the first part of the work. The results showed that crop rotation leads to larger risk decrease more than crop monoculture and diversification cropping systems. Thus, alfalfa-wheat rotation has significant risk advantages over monoculture production and diversification cropping because of enhanced yield and price offsetting ability. The second part of the study used data and information from the Gaza Strip, Palestine, to demonstrate the potential use of treated wastewater given the severe water shortage facing this region. The tradeoff analysis from this work showed that profitability and economic efficiency of water use can be increased significantly compared to the existing conditions through the use of treated wastewater. Groundwater extraction in Gaza can be reduced from 57 to 36 million m3 allowing the corresponding areas of groundwater table below mean sea level to decrease from 76 km2 to 32 km2 as a result of using treated wastewater, indicating significant aquifer recovery. The final part of the analysis also used the Gaza Strip as the case study. The results showed that the benefits of using treated wastewater increase over time as demands increase and water becomes scarce, but the economic value of water does not fall below the seawater desalination cost of $0.60/m3. The urban and industrial water prices reduced significantly when wastewater is used for agriculture. Net benefits from treating and using wastewater far exceed the institutional change costs borne by the corresponding institutions. The work conducted by this dissertation clearly showed that new methods of integrated analysis using the concepts of water allocation, irrigation principles, economics, environmental concerns, and public health risk can be successfully conducted to improve existing agricultural water allocation and management practices in water deficit regions. Also such analyses will provide valuable information and insight leading to better management of valuable water resources that increase profitability in agricultural production while reducing stress on freshwater supplies through the use of alternative sources of water

Optimization Solid Waste Management in Nablus Joint service council

The existing solid waste management system in Nablus Joint Service Council (JSC) is suffering from the absence on a real plan for collection waste from localities with a clear vehicle routes. Therefore, the total process of SWM is affected by; collected fees are not covering the real costs of SWM, and solid waste service revenues normally flow into a general municipal account. Although, about 41% of total solid waste management cost is related to waste collection (Load waste, Expenses waste disposal/Sirafi, and Expenses Landfill); high amount from this cost is related to fuel (16%). Currently, the daily transportation cost for one ton collected by Nablus JSC is 36,718.55 ILS. In this study, a dynamic waste management model is developed by a proposed liner algebra mathematical model using GAMS software program; to minimize the transportation cost of the SWM process for municipal solid waste management system for identifying optimal Waste-flow-allocation, and to assist decision makers to improve solid waste management in Nablus JSC-SWM. The model has two scenarios one for minimizing the transportations cost by identifying the best route to transfer solid waste to the nearest transfer station with in Nablus governorate (Al-Sirafi or Beta). The second scenario is to give the optimal route and cost incase a recycling process were done in both transfer stations Al-Sirafi and Beta before delivering the waste to its last distention in Zahret Al-Finjan landfill in Jenin. The modeling results are valuable for supporting the planning of Nablus JSC management practices. The total transportation costs for the current used system is 36,718.55 ILS / day while applying the first scenario of GAMS model the total daily transportation costs using two transfer station will be 32,718.94 ILS which means is only 12 % of the current used system with 3,946.03 ILS daily saving from costs. Although, the results show that applying the second scenario is the best by including a recycling and re-using processes in the two transfer stations (Beta and Al-Sirafi) before delivering the remaining solid waste after the recycling process to Zahret Al-Finjan land fill in Jenin. The second scenario will make the iv total daily transportation cost is only 17,871.94 ILS which leads to 51% reduction on the existing daily total transportation costs. In order to improve solid waste management in Nablus JSC and the served 24 local government units (LGUs), and to improve the solid waste management for the JSC’s surrounding localities the emerging conditions for the adoption and operation of the model need to be addressed through the main stakeholder collaborations under the umbrella of Ministry of Local government (MoLG) as a decision maker to encourage the solid waste sector participation and the development of technological innovations for solid waste management in Palestine.يعاني نظام إدارة النفايات الصلبة الموجود في مجلس الخدمات المشترك لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في محافظة نابلس كمعظم المجالس المشتركة لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في فلسطين من غياب خطة حقيقيه واضحة لآلية جمع و نقل النفايات من الهيئات المحلية التي يقدم لها المجلس المشترك خدمة إدارة النفايات وهي أربعة وعشرون هيئة محلية ضمن حدود محافظة نابلس. كما ولا يوجد خطة واضحة لمسار آليات المجلس المشترك لعملية جمع النفايات الصلبة. و لذلك، تتأثر العملية الكلية لإدارة النفايات الصلبة بنسبة الرسوم المحصلة من الهيئات والتي لا تغطي التكاليف الحقيقة لإدارة النفايات الصلبة من قبل المجلس المشترك هذا ويجدر الإشارة بأن معظم إيرادات خدمة إدارة النفايات الصلبة المدفوعة من المواطنين للهيئات المحلية تتدفق عادة في الحساب البنكي ً تخصيصها لتطوير خدمة إدارة النفايات العام للهيئات المحلية مما يجعل من الصعب أحيانا الصلبة في الهيئات المحلية أو مجلس الخدمات المشترك. كما يتم إنفاق ما معدله 41 ٪من إجمالي تكلفة إدارة النفايات الصلبة في مجلس خدمات نابلس على عملية جمع النفايات، و تحميلها وترحيل النفايات إلى محطة الترحيل في الصيرفي ونفقات مكب زهرة الفنجان ورسوم الطمر الصحي للنفايات الصلبة في مكب زهرة الفنجان. فيما تتراوح نسبة التكلفة المنفقة على وقود آليات المجلس المشترك 16 ٪من اجمالي تكلفة إدارة النفايات الصلبة ضمن مجلس خدمات محافظة نابلس في هذه الدراسة، تم تطوير نموذج إدارة النفايات الصلبة بواسطة نموذج رياضي مقترح باستخدام برنامج GAMS لتقليل تكلفة نقل و جمع النفايات الصلبة من خلال تحديد الآلية الأمثل لجمع النفايات الصلبة، ومساعدة صانعي القرار لتحسين إدارة النفايات الصلبة في مجلس الخدمات المشترك لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في محافظة نابلس. 87 تم استخدام البرمجة الخطية في النموذج المقترح بواسطة برنامج GAMS وتم اقتراح سيناريوهات عمل لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في مجلس خدمات محافظة نابلس. السيناريو الأول يهدف للتقليل من التكاليف المدفوعة لجمع و نقل النفايات الصلبة من 24 هيئة محلية إلى مكب زهرة الفنجان في محافظة جنين وذلك من خلال تحديد أفضل طريق لجمع و نقل النفايات الصلبة إلى أقرب محطة ً على بعد الهيئات ُ ترحيل في محافظة نابلس (محطة الصيرفي أو محطة بيتا) وذلك اعتمادا المحلية عن محطتي الترحيل. في حين أن السيناريو الثاني يعتمد على تقليل تكلفة نقل وجمع النفايات الصلبة بناء عملية إعادة استخدام لبعض ً على السيناريو الأول ولكن على أن تكون هنالك المواد القابلة للتدوير وا جلس المشترك في كل ٕ عادة استخدام لبعض النفايات المجموعة من قبل الم ً في من محطة بيتا ومحطة الصيرفي للترحيل قبل ارسال ما تبقي للمحطة النهائية ليطمر صحيا مكب زهرة الفنجان في محافظة جنين. تعتبر النتائج قيمة لدعم التخطيط لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في مجلس خدمات محافظة نابلس في حين أن مجموع تكاليف النقل اليومية للنظام الحالي المستخدم هي 55.718,36 شيكل اسرائيلي فقد أظهرت النتائج أنه في حال تطبيق السيناريو الأول من سيكون مجموع تكاليف النقل اليومية في حال استخدام محطتي ترحيل بيتا والصيرفي يكون 94.718,32 شيكل اسرائيلي وهو ما يعني ان السيناريو الأول سيعمل فقط على ما هو حوالي 12 ٪ فقط من تكاليف النظام الحالي المستخدم مع توفير يومي علي تكاليف النقل تبلغ 03.946,3 شيكل اسرائيلي.فيما قد بينت النتائج أن تطبيق السيناريو الثاني هو الأفضل في حال اعتماد السيناريو الأول بما يشمل إعادة التدوير وا النفايات الصلبة التي يتم ترحيلها لمحطتي ترحيل بيتا و الصيرفي قبل ترحيل ٕ عادة استخدام النفايات الصلبة المتبقية بعد عملية إعادة التدوير للطمر الصحي في مكب زهرة الفنجان في محافظة جنين. حيث أن إجمالي تكلفة النقل اليومي فقط 94.971,17 شيكل اسرائيلي الأمر الذي سيؤدي إلى تخفيض 51 ٪من إجمالي تكاليف النقل اليومية الحالية. وهذه النتائج تعني أنه حال تطبيق هذه الآلية في العمل سيتسنى للمجلس المشترك تقديم خدمة إدارة النفايات لعدد من الهيئات المحلية القريبة في المستقبل القريب. من أجل تحسين إدارة النفايات الصلبة في مجلس الخدمات المشترك لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في محافظة نابلس، وتحسين إدارة النفايات الصلبة للهيئات المحلية الاعضاء في المجلس المشترك و الهيئات المحلية القريبة والمحيطة فهنالك ضرورة ملحة لتعاون أصحاب المصلحة الرئيسيين تحت 88 مظلة وزارة الحكم المحلي باعتبارها صانع القرار الرئيس لإدارة النفايات على المستوي الوطني لتشجيع المشاركة في تطوير قطاع النفايات الصلبة وتطوير الابتكارات التكنولوجية لإدارة النفايات الصلبة في فلسطي

Optimal Water Resources Management in the Southern Gaza Strip

Gaza Strip with its continuing water scarcity and limited available resources can not afford to continue with the present situation through the endemic mismanagement of water resources. The growing gap between water supply and water demand is calling for the mobilization of any additional conventional and non-conventional water resources. Pumping from closely spaced wells in the southern governorates of Gaza Strip has resulted in the formation of deep cones of depression in the groundwater table in the vicinity of the pumping centers. Water-level measurements indicate that there has been a steady decline in the groundwater table level in the vicinity of these pumping centers for the past 20 years. Israeli authorities have recently evacuated Gaza Strip settlements. As a result, large areas with good quality water became available to the Palestinian use. Reconfiguration of the water supply systems will then be necessary for optimal utilization of the groundwater resources for the whole area. The proposed supply redistribution along with the utilization of treated wastewater and the desalination of large quantities of seawater are all considered crucial measures to close the gap between the supply and the demand, relief the stress on the groundwater aquifer, and ensure a long term sustainability of the water resources. As we are faced with a multi-dimensional problem that involved both the groundwater system and the overland management system, a combined simulation- optimization techniques are used to predict aquifer behavior while simultaneously select the optimal set of management alternatives. Visual Mod Flow (VMF) which is based on a finite-difference code and its integrated modules is used for groundwater flow simulation. In addition to that a Genetic Algorithms (GA) code is used to search the global optimal set of management alternatives to the water resources in the southern governorates. The VMF is utilized to define the groundwater system constraints for each planning horizon and to predict the behavior of the aquifer in response to supply reconfiguration. Based on the resource constraints, the target quality constraints for different users, and the socioeconomic factors the GA select the optimal set of supply alternatives considering all the available conventional and non-conventional options. The results show that supplying part of domestic demand from evenly distributed set of wells in the settlements areas and reducing the production from the current problematic areas will significantly improve the groundwater table level in the area. The results also shows that in order to satisfy the quality constraints for both domestic and agricultural users, a large quantity of fresh water should be conveyed from outside the aquifer system (i.e. seawater desalination). This will improve the quality of domestic supply which in turns improves the quality of the effluent and as a result the reuse of effluent will not be constrained by quality (salinity)

A decision support system for integrated semi-centralised urban wastewater treatment systems

The importance of adequate water supply and sanitation infrastructure as cornerstones for the development of civilizations is undeniable. Although a strategy based on centralised infrastructure has proven to be successful in the past, in some circumstances such conventional systems are inappropriate for future needs. A Semi-centralised Urban Wastewater Treatment System (SUWWTS) may be considered a viable sustainable urban water management solution to promote water security. A SUWWTS merges regulations of traditional centralised systems with the concepts of close-loop and resource recovery of decentralised systems. However, research on the design and feasibility of implementing semi-centralised systems is in its infancy. This Thesis is a first attempt to articulate the complexity, to systematize and to automatize the design of a SUWWTS. Here we show a novel method, referred to as framework, for the development of SUWWTS with allowance for the socio-economic and geographic context of any urban area. To demonstrate the proposed framework a Decision Support System (DSS) was developed; its output is a recommended design comprised of several wastewater treatment plants, their respective technology, and their associated sewerage and reclaimed water distribution networks. The results demonstrate the capabilities and the usefulness of the DSS; it applies the design engineers’ subjective preferences, such as regional technological inclinations and implementation strategies. The results from a feasibility study on the city of Rio de Janeiro validated and demonstrated how the DSS can be used to assist decision-makers. This Thesis discusses the framework, the DSS and the demonstration case. Overall, it will hopefully help both other researchers and practitioners by contributing to the discussion on how to promote urban water security, to decrease urban areas’ dependency on ecosystem services whilst delivering better social welfare

Model-based development and design of microgrid power systems

The motivation of this contribution is the study of the Microgrid (MG) power systems, specifically Solar-Battery-Diesel systems, which are used to support unreliable grids and provide a continuous electricity supply to the areas which have limited or even no access to the grid. The main research focus in the scientific community lies on the development of general energy management strategies (EMSs) for optimal power routing on the one hand, and providing an optimized layout-design of the MGs on the other hand. However, none of these two issues can be adequately handled in isolation from one another because they have a direct impact on each other. This work aims at tackling Model-Based Development and Design of Microgrid Power Systems by addressing the challenges of the EMSs and the layout-design based on the system model and operational requirements. For this purpose, several EMSs for scheduling generation side in the MG are developed in accordance with the operational constraints. Besides, a forecast-driven power planning approach is developed for MGs that incorporate smart shiftable loads. Furthermore, this work proposes an integrated layout-design method for optimizing the size of the microgrid considering the applied EMS. Finally, to highlight the usefulness of the developed EMSs and design approach, different examples inspired from a real case-study are presented.Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Thema Microgrid (MG)-Energieversorgungssysteme, hauptsächlich Solar-Batterie-Diesel-Systeme, die vor allem zur Unterstützung der unzuverlässige Netze eingesetzt werden oder als eine zuverlässige Stromversorgung für Gebiete, die nur begrenzten oder sogar keinen Zugang zu elektrischem Strom haben. Der aktuelle Forschungsschwerpunkt in der Wissenschaft liegt einerseits in der Entwicklung allgemeiner Energiemanagementstrategien (EMS) für eine optimale Energieführung und andererseits in einem optimierten Design der MGs. Keines dieser beiden Probleme kann jedoch isoliert betrachtet werden, da sie sich direkt aufeinander auswirken. Diese Arbeit zielt darauf ab, die Modellbasierte Entwicklung und Auslegung von Microgrid-Energieversorgungssystemen anzugehen, indem die Herausforderungen der EMS und des Layout-Designs basierend auf dem Systemmodell und den betrieblichen Anforderungen adressiert werden. Zu diesem Zweck werden mehrere EMS zur Planung der Erzeugungsseite in dem MG in Übereinstimmung mit den Betriebsbeschränkungen entwickelt. Außerdem wird für die Microgrids, die intelligent verschiebbare Lasten enthalten, eine prognosebasierte Betriebsstrategie entwickelt. Diese Arbeit schlägt auch eine integrierte Layout-Design-Methode vor, um die Auslegung des Microgrids unter Berücksichtigung des angewandten EMS zu optimieren. Um die Wirksamkeit der entwickelten EMS und des Entwurfsansatzes hervorzuheben, werden schließlich verschiedene Beispiele vorgestellt, die von einer realen Fallstudie inspiriert sind

A spatial optimization approach to watershed water quality management: A case of the Opequon Watershed

The Opequon Creek watershed is located in northern VA and the eastern panhandle of WV. Currently, the main creeks in the watershed do not meet VA or WV state water quality standards for recreational uses and aquatic life. In both states, the creeks are listed as impaired due to high levels of nutrients, bacteria, benthic and biologic impairment. The Opequon Creek is part of the upper Potomac River watershed, and ultimately impacts water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The main aim of this study was to develop a methodology that can be used to reduce nutrient loadings entering the bay area and improve water quality in Opequon watershed by implementing four innovative agricultural BMPs. The study develops an integrated approach to nutrient reduction incorporating three models involving water quality modeling, nutrient fate and transportation and an optimization model to recommend a least cost strategy for nutrient reduction.;Four optimization scenarios were evaluated, involving a uniform, holistic, prioritization, and targeted reduction approaches. A uniform reduction approach evaluated each subwatershed to meet a reduction goal. Using specific land use contributions, an annual cost of {dollar}5.9 million would be required to meet N and P reduction goals on 14 of the 17 subwatersheds. The holistic approach is a scenario whereby the entire watershed\u27s nutrient reduction strategy is evaluated to meet the nutrient reduction goal at the Opequon watershed mouth. However, no optimal solution was found for this approach using agricultural BMPs. When BMPs were implemented on all acres of crop and pasture land, a total cost of {dollar}19.3 million was computed with only 43% of the reduction goal is achieved for P and 42% for N. In the third scenario, a prioritization approach targets priority subwatersheds. High priority subwatersheds were identified using the WCMS nutrient levels and public participation prioritization exercise in watershed management. The same three subwatersheds were identified as high priority by both methods: Mill, Tuscarora and Middle Creeks. Using P as the only constraint, the total cost of BMP implementation for these three subwatersheds under the Chesapeake Bay values was approximately {dollar}1.1 million compared to {dollar}282,000 using specific land use specific values. This result showed that nutrient reduction costs are much lower under specific land use contributions than using the Chesapeake Bay wide averages. The final scenario involved a targeted approach where reduction goals are to be met for both the Virginia and West Virginia parts of the Opequon watershed. No optimal solution exists for these two points of evaluation. As with the second scenario, when BMPs were implements on all agricultural land, VA had 69% and 63% of reduction goals achieved for N and P while WV had 36% and 49% of reduction goals achieved for N and P, respectively.;From a perspective of water resource policy, this study showed that: (1) P goals are more attainable at reasonable cost than N goals so that trading on the Opequon watershed is more likely to be feasible for P than N; (2) compliance with WV and VA reduction goals across all subwatersheds is more achievable than meeting a holistic reduction goal for the entire watershed; and (3) local knowledge gives comparable information on priority subwatersheds as does watershed modeling

Nature’s Optics and Our Understanding of Light

Optical phenomena visible to everyone abundantly illustrate important ideas in science and mathematics. The phenomena considered include rainbows, sparkling reflections on water, green flashes, earthlight on the moon, glories, daylight, crystals, and the squint moon. The concepts include refraction, wave interference, numerical experiments, asymptotics, Regge poles, polarisation singularities, conical intersections, and visual illusions

Parametric Cost Estimation of Road Projects Using Artificial Neural Networks

Early stage cost estimate plays a significant role in any initial road projects decisions; despite the project scope has not yet been finalized. Major problems faced are lack of preliminary information, database of road works costs and appropriate cost estimation methods. Therefore, it is important to find a way to estimate the roads cost in a short time with acceptable accuracy. The main objective of this research is to develop artificial neural networks model to estimate the cost at early stage of road projects in Gaza strip using parametric techniques and reduce the percentage error of estimation. To achieve this there is a need to identify the factors that affect the cost of road projects that can be available at early stage. Three types of networks were used to build the models: linear regression (LR) as a traditional method for estimating, and the two most common kinds of feed forward patterns, which are multilayer perceptron (MLP) and general feedforward (GFF). Topologies and architectures of ANN were adopted after several trials. The total accuracy performances of the best model of each type are 90.3%, 93.72% 94.5% for LR, MLP and GFF model respectively. A visual basic interface was developed to operate GFF model and facilitate data entry. The GFF was the best model that had mean absolute percentage error 4.98%, 4.57% and 6.09 for training, cross validation and test sets respectively. Sensitivity analysis was done for GFF model, which showed that the pavement area parameter had the greatest effect on the budget output but project scope had a low impact. This research was achieved the ability to estimate the cost of road projects at early stage and reducing the error rate to reach 5.5%. ANN is well suited to model complex problems where the relationship between the model variables is unknown so take advantage of the ANN capabilities in the construction management