Cost Minimization in Wastewater Treatment Via Regionalized Treatment Facilities: An Application of Zero-One Mixed Integer Programming

The disposal of industrial and municipal wastes is a complex and costly problem. The combination of increases in population, affluence, and industrial activity is generating growing volumes of water borne waste that must be disposed of or recycled. In 1972 for example, the estimated volume of wastewater generated in Rhode Island was 179 million gallons per day (MGD). This represented an average of 185 gallons per day for each Rhode Island resident and indications are that this volume is increasing each year.