Engineering Economy 7th Edition by Leland Blank ,Anthony Tarquin

Exercise 56

An engineer is considering two different liners for an evaporation pond that will receive salty concentrate from a brackish water desalting plant. A plastic liner will cost $0.90 per square foot initially and will require replacement in 15 years when precipitated solids will have to be removed from the pond using heavy equipment. This removal will cost $500,000. A rubberized elastomeric liner is tougher and, therefore, is expected to last 30 years, but it will cost $2.20 per square foot. If the size of the pond is 110 acres (1 acre = 43,560 square feet), which liner is more cost effective on the basis of a present worth comparison at an interest rate of 8% per year