MINIMUM-IMPACT MODELING OF NONPOINT-SOURCE GROUNDWATER POLLUTION

A new nonpoint source pollution management model is presented and applied to ascertain scenarios of expanding residential/commercial land uses to minimize impacts on ground-water quality. The model is a linear program (LP), which can relate distributions of regional ground-water quality to corresponding development scenarios at optimality. This is achieved by including equations from a numerical steady-state transport model in the LP constraint set. The model is applied to 1980 and projected conditions for a subarea of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Elemental water quality, elemental housing density, nondegradation water quality standards, the 1980 land-use pattern, and a projected development population are incorporated as constraints. The analysis elucidates optimal development distributions that produce a minimum ground-water-quality impact. The dual variables generated from binding continuity, water quality, and development density constraints are particulary valuable for the information they provide on the impacts of relaxing land-use and water-quality limitations.