A method for determining water pollutant discharge limit based on combination of administrative goal-oriented and environmental capacity-based total pollution load control patterns
Abstract：Since China was facing the challenge to transit its control pattern on total pollution load from an administrative goal-oriented way to an environmental capacity-based way, an approach for determining water pollutant discharge limit which could combine advantages of two patterns was put forward. To establish the method, five principles were involved, i.e., calculations were dependent on water body classification; relations between catchment and administration boundaries were considered; bottom-up way was applied; protection levels for different water bodies were differentiated; and more kinds of pollutants were covered. Water bodies were grouped into five categories, according to different ways to utilize environmental capacities and corresponding total load management patterns. Five categories were named as protective utilization, restorative utilization, controlled utilization, developmental utilization, and restricted utilization, to which a goal-oriented pattern, mixed pattern, capacity-based pattern, capacity-based pattern, and mixed pattern was assigned, respectively. A general procedure instructing calculation of pollutant discharge limit for both catchment and administrative zone was given. The approach was applied to a project on strategic environmental assessment of social-economic development in Yunnan and Guizhou Province. The case study showed that 31.25% of cities in Yunnan should decrease the load of COD and 43.75% should decrease the load of ammonia nitrogen, while 55.56percent of cities in Guizhou could increase the load of COD properly and 44.44percent could increase the load of ammonia nitrogen properly. It was capable of linking pollution load reduction more closely to local water environmental improvement, tightening up environmental restrictions on regions with poor water quality by stricter discharge permit, and leaving more development room to regions with surplus environmental capacity by loosening existing pollutant reduction goals. For local governments, discharge limits given in the paper could be used to adjust existing pollution load control plans. The approach was a practical tool for China to transit its water pollution load management pattern.
魏文龙, 曾思育, 杜鹏飞, 陈吉宁, 刘毅. 一种兼顾目标总量和容量总量的水污染物排放限值确定方法[J]. 中国环境科学, 2014, 34(1): 136-142.
WEI Wen-Long, ZENG Si-Yu, DU Peng-Fei, CHEN Ji-Ning, LIU Yi. A method for determining water pollutant discharge limit based on combination of administrative goal-oriented and environmental capacity-based total pollution load control patterns. CHINA ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCECE, 2014, 34(1): 136-142.
