Total Maximum Daily Load Analysis and Modeling: Assessment and Advancement

A Benefit-cost Analysis of Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation

Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) implementation generates benefits and costs from water quality improvements, which are rarely quantified. This analysis examines a TMDL written to address bacteria and aquatic-life-use impairments on Abrams and Opequon Creeks in Virginia. Benefits were estimated using a contingent valuation survey of local residents. Costs were based on the number and type of bes...

Characterizing Point Source Phosphorus for the lower Boise River Total Maximum Daily Load and Aquatox Water Quality Modeling

Accurately characterizing point source phosphorus and communicating that description is a critically important step in the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) and the supporting water quality modeling. This is particularly critical for low phosphorus targets, which result in small wasteload allocations. Small wasteload allocations mean point sources must spend millions of dollars i...

An ecological function and services approach to total maximum daily load (TMDL) prioritization.

Prioritizing total maximum daily load (TMDL) development starts by considering the scope and severity of water pollution and risks to public health and aquatic life. Methodology using quantitative assessments of in-stream water quality is appropriate and effective for point source (PS) dominated discharge, but less so in watersheds with mostly nonpoint source (NPS) related impairments. For NPSs...

Maximum Load and Minimum Volume Structural Optimization

A bi-criteria optimization is considered whose objectives are the maximization of the load sustained by a structure and the minimization of the structure's volume. As the objectives are conflicting, the solution to the problem is of the Pareto type. The problem is elaborated for a thin-walled column of cruciform cross-section, prone to flexural and torsional buckling. A numerical example is als...

Establishment of an Effective Total Maximum Daily Load Through Reliable Water Quality Data