Optimal management of a eutrophied coastal ecosystem: balancing agricultural and municipal abatement measures

Agriculture and municipal wastewater are the principal sources of eutrophying nutrients in many water ecosystems. We develop a model which considers the characteristics of agricultural and municipal nutrient abatement. The model explicitly accounts for the investment needed to set up wastewater trea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental & resource economics 2008-02, Vol.39 (2), p.139-159
Main Authors: Laukkanen, Marita, Huhtala, Anni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural ecosystems
Agricultural pollution
Agriculture
Algae
Coastal areas
Coastal ecosystems
Coastal waters
Cost control
Cost minimization
Economic models
Economic Policy
Economic statistics
Economic theory
Economics
Economics and Finance
Ecosystems
Endogenous regime switches
Environmental Economics
Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice
Environmental Management
Environmental policy
Eutrophication
Eutrophication control
Finland
Investment
Investments
Load
Municipal wastewater
Nitrogen
Nutrient abatement
Nutrients
Phosphorus
Studies
Waste management
Wastewater treatment
Water management
Water pollution
Water treatment
Water treatment plants
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Summary:Agriculture and municipal wastewater are the principal sources of eutrophying nutrients in many water ecosystems. We develop a model which considers the characteristics of agricultural and municipal nutrient abatement. The model explicitly accounts for the investment needed to set up wastewater treatment facilities, and makes it possible to determine the optimal timing of investment as well as the optimal agricultural and municipal abatement levels. We apply the model to the Finnish coastal waters of the Gulf of Finland. Our results indicate that substantial savings in abatement costs and the damage associated with eutrophication could be obtained by constructing the facilities needed to process all the wastewaters entering the coastal ecosystem. The optimal timing of investment is shown to hinge on both the economic and ecological characteristics of the ecosystem.
ISSN:0924-6460
1573-1502
DOI:10.1007/s10640-007-9099-2