Use of goal programming and integer programming for water quality management—A case study of Gaza Strip

This paper describes a project dealing with achieving an optimum mix of water from different underground wells, each having different amounts of nitrates and chlorides. The amounts of chlorides and nitrates in each of the wells may be higher or lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Therefore, the optimum mix would be the one that meets WHO standard which is 250 mg/l for chlorides and 50 mg/l for nitrates. A goal programming model was developed to identify the combination of wells along with the amounts of water from each well that upon mixing would result in minimizing the deviation of the amounts of chlorides and nitrates from the standards set by WHO. The output of the goal programming model along with the coordinates of the wells identified above was then used for a second model that determines the locations of the mixing points “reservoirs” in such a way that minimizes the total weighted distances from the corresponding wells. Finally, an easy-to-use pumping schedule was developed using integer programming. Results indicate that for the case study, there exist several optima which make it easier for the decision maker to consider other intangible factors if there are any.