Risk, Systems Analysis and Optimization

In this final chapter, we turn to the issue of using risk analysis to not only justify a policy, but to select an optimal strategy for reducing risk. Most pollution control strategies can be characterized as a single-medium, single pollutant, approach. Such an approach begins by dividing the environment into three primary compartments: air, water, and land (soil). Pollution problems then are grouped into three categories: air pollution, water pollution, and solid waste pollution problems. In the single-medium approach, these three categories of problems are managed independently without consideration of their interactions. For example, major air pollution sources may be required to install the best available control technologies (BACT) based purely on consideration of the risk from releases to air; industrial wastewater dischargers may be required to meet best available technology (BAT) effluent limitations based solely on the risk from releases to water; and RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) and CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) impose restrictions on the options for land disposal of solid waste [1-3] based solely on the risk from burial. Similarly, the choice of manufacturing processes and pollution control technologies often reflects concern for a single primary pollutant that dominates current regulatory focus, while a facility may emit literally dozens of chemicals, metals, etc.