Trade-offs in designing water pollution trading policy with multiple objectives: A case study in the Tai Lake Basin, China
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- 作者：Yongliang Zhang ; Yueying Wu ; Hai Yu ; Zhanfeng Dong ; Bing Zhang
- 关键词：Water pollution trading ; Trading ratios ; Agent-based model ; Water quality impacts
- 刊名：Environmental Science and Policy
- 出版年：November, 2013
- 年：2013
- 卷：33
- 期：Complete
- 页码：295-307
- 全文大小：2697 K
文摘
The design of an emissions trading system crucially depends not only on cost-efficiency but also on the nature of the pollutant being regulated and traded. Because the water quality impacts of the pollution discharged by polluters are closely related to the polluters鈥?locations, a water pollution trading system for non-uniformly mixed pollutants such as chemical oxygen demand (COD) may cause violations of predetermined water quality standards over the length of a river. Trading ratios are a way of ensuring the equivalency of the potential water quality impact between an allowance generated in one location and used in another location in a watershed. This research proposed a zonal-based trading ratios (ZTR) system to improve cost-efficiency while meeting environmental constraints. An artificial market for COD trading in the Wujingang watershed in Tai Lake Basin was constructed by applying an agent-based model. A Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program (WASP) model was introduced to predict the water quality impacts of the water pollution trading market on the river system. The results show that a simply designed tradable discharge permit (TDP) system for the Tai Lake Basin without trading ratios has the potential to decrease water quality in some locations. A trading market restricted by ZTR is more efficient in creating trade-offs between achieving cost-efficiency and meeting water quality standards. Thus, the integration of trading ratios in pilot programs for water pollution trading policy deployments in the Tai Lake Basin and throughout China is suggested to minimize adverse water quality impacts.