A Resource Allocation Algorithm (ALCOT) for Controlling Mine Drainage Pollution

The algorithm is a means for analyzing a network of mines producing pollutants in a watershed. Treatment of mine effluents or abatement procedures reducing mine pollutant outputs can control pollutant inputs to streams from individual mine sources. In addition, treatment sites in the streams can remove pollutants flowing from upstream sites. The determination of least-cost decisions at mine sources and instream treatment sites for achieving a quality standard throughout a watershed constitutes a discrete nonlinear programming problem. A modification and extension to the partial enumeration method formulated by Lawler and Bell resulted in an efficient algorithm for solving this problem. An application illustrates the operation of the algorithm.