Development of environmental modeling methodologies for the management of regional and industrial pollution control systems

Environmental pollution problems associated with social and economic development at regional- or industrial-scales have become critical concerns facing both national and local governments around the world for several decades. These issues usually are related to a number of factors, with multi-source, multi-layer, multi-stage, multi-objective, interactive, and uncertain characteristics. For such complex environmental systems, when decisions regarding management practices are to be made, integrated consideration that incorporates various processes and factors within a general framework rather than examining them in isolation would be useful for generating effective management schemes and strategies.;In this thesis, a set of environmental modeling methodologies have been developed and applied to the management of several types of environmental pollution control systems, which include (i) the development of an inexact chance-constrained mixed-integer linear programming (ICCMILP) model and its application to a case study for managing a regional energy-environment system; (ii) the development of a fuzzy-stochastic robust programming (FSRP) model and its application to a case study for the management of a regional air pollution control system; (iii) the development of an integrated simulation-assessment modeling approach for analyzing cancer risks of groundwater contamination caused by waste landfill leakage and for providing decision support in managing such a groundwater-remediation system; (iv) the description of a 3D multiphase multi-component groundwater flow and contaminant transport model for the management of an aquifer-contaminated subsurface system through simulating surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation process, exploring its performance and relevant mechanisms, and identifying alternative approaches for site remediation; and (v) the development of a system dynamics model (ErhaiSD) and its application to the planning of a large-scale watershed environmental system in the Lake Erhai Basin, China. For each method, efforts were devoted to system conceptualization, model development, complexity analysis, uncertainty reflection, solution-algorithm study, and case application. The developed methods could be used for identifying and evaluating potential management options and acquiring desired designs. Thus, schemes with sound environmental and socio-economic efficiencies and benefits can be obtained, which provide rational decision support for decision makers in managing contaminated environmental systems.