Environmental risk assessment of offshore produced water discharges using a hybrid fuzzy-stochastic modeling approach

  • Authors:

  • Zhi Chen;Lin Zhao;Kenneth Lee

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8;Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8;Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4A2

  • Venue:
  • Environmental Modelling & Software
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

In recent years, regulators and environmental groups have identified the large volumes of wastewater discharged through offshore petroleum production activities as an issue of concern. In this paper, fuzzy set theory coupled with Monte Carlo analysis have provided a stochastic simulation of pollutant dispersion for the prediction of the environmental risks associated with produced water discharges. With the application of the fuzzy set to data drawn from previous risk-assessment studies, the model allowed the evaluation of various existing pollution standards for marine environments. The present modeling method was validated against data for lead (Pb) levels in the area adjacent to an offshore petroleum facility located on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada through a multi-year field expedition. The proposed risk-assessment approach contributes to the implementation of effective assessment and management of produced water discharges in the offshore water environment.