Dynamic Optimal Ground-Water Reclamation with Treatment Capital Costs

Abstract

A dynamic optimal control algorithm for ground-water remediation was extended to incorporate treatment facility capital costs, as a function of the peak operating rate. Our approach to including the capital costs of treatment required no additional control variables and only a single additional state variable. Incorporation of the capital costs of the treatment facility had the greatest impact on design when the pumping policies were changed at intervals of six months or fewer. For longer management periods, inclusion of treatment facility capital costs had little effect on the selected optimal policies. This work demonstrates that capital treatment costs may significantly impact a dynamic management policy and that these capital costs should be explicitly incorporated into a dynamic management model.