A SITING MODEL FOR REGIONAL WASTE-WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS - THE CHAIN CONFIGURATION CASE

The techniques of locations systems analysis are adapted to develop a siting model for wastewater treatment facilities when the wastewater sources and treatment facilities are in a chain or linear configuration. The regional facility problem is considered as a special variant of the fixed charge plant location model rather than the general transshipment type model. The definition of the additional costs of a waste source joining a regional facility and the development of sequential priority constraints in the siting model allow the siting model to be conveniently solved by widely available linear programming packages. The model deals with the situation in which no current treatment is provided, no bypassed plants are allowed, a fixed level of treatment is required, and water quality constraints are either not included or are not binding.