The decision support system GMCR II in negotiations over groundwater contamination

A groundwater contamination conflict is employed as an illustrative case study to demonstrate how the decision support system GMCR II can be applied to environmental negotiations as well as other kinds of disputes. The controversy systematically studied using GMCR II is the strategic conflict that arose after the discovery of a carcinogen in the aquifer supplying water to the town of Elmira, located in Southern Ontario, Canada, about 100 km west of Toronto. At the model formulation stage, GMCR II is utilized to describe the Elmira dispute in terms of decision makers, options or courses of action available to each decision maker, feasible states or scenarios that could take place, allowable moves available to each decision maker, and relative preferences among states for each of the disputants. At the subsequent analysis step, GMCR II generates a range of useful analytical results that may assist an interested party in better understanding the strategic aspects of the conflict and envisioning possible pathways for optimal decision making. For the Elmira dispute, potential equilibria or compromise resolutions are suggested and the decision of two of the disputants to form a coalition and bring about a dramatic resolution to the conflict are explained.