Illegal Waste Dumping Investigation

Hazardous industrial waste found dumped in village contaminating soil and water. Students will trace waste back to source using chemical signatures.

# Aplly.xyz Case Study Submission

## Title
Illegal Waste Dumping Investigation

## Type
Environmental Crime Investigation

## Difficulty
Intermediate

## Estimated Time
60 minutes

## Overview
Hazardous industrial waste found dumped in village contaminating soil and water. Students will trace waste back to source using chemical signatures.

## Case Details

Function Focus: Environmental Crime Investigation — manual reasoning, decomposition, and critical judgment (no spreadsheet or AI tool permitted in Phase 1)

Scenario:
You are the analyst at a fictional consultancy ("Praxis Advisors") tasked with answering: Illegal Waste Dumping Investigation. You have a clean, synthetic dataset described below. You must produce a defensible answer using structured reasoning — no tool-assisted shortcut on the first pass.

Dataset Structure:
- incident_id
- date
- location
- waste_type
- quantity_tonnes
- estimated_volume_cum
- hazardous
- water_source_contaminated
- distance_to_residential_km
- complaints_received
- responsible_party_identified
- notice_issued
- penalty_imposed_rs
- cleanup_done
- recurrence

Tasks:
1. List the records and separate evidence types; classify each as primary/secondary/circumstantial by hand.
2. Identify the most probable source/location using spatial or attribute clustering and distance/direction reasoning.
3. Quantify the scale of impact (area, volume, cost) with back-of-envelope estimation and explicit assumptions.
4. Evaluate the strongest counter-hypothesis (natural vs. man-made, accidental vs. deliberate) and decide using the data.
5. After your manual reasoning, cross-check the numbers with a calculator/spreadsheet and note discrepancies.

Expected Output:
A one-page investigation memo: source hypothesis, evidence classification, impact quantification, counter-hypothesis ruling.

Evaluation Criteria:
Quality of source attribution reasoning, correct scale quantification, balanced hypothesis evaluation.

## Data Sources

| incident_id | date | location | waste_type | quantity_tonnes | estimated_volume_cum | hazardous | water_source_contaminated | distance_to_residential_km | complaints_received | responsible_party_identified | notice_issued | penalty_imposed_rs | cleanup_done | recurrence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | Low | Urban | 100000 | 1 | True | Yes | 12.5 | DIS-0160-001 | | RES-0160-001 | Confirmed | Chennai | 25000 | Under investigation |
| Compromised | Detected | Unresolved | Active | 42 | Kolkata | 2026-03-15 | Active | True | 3.5 | Inconclusive | Pending | Arrested | Low | 25000 |
| Active | Detected | Inactive | Delhi | Arrested | EST-0160-003 | HAZ-0160-003 | 1 | 0 | 25000 | 12.5 | Active | PEN-0160-003 | 2026-04-01 | Chennai |
| Inactive | Not detected | At large | Resolved | Medium | Pending | HAZ-0160-004 | 25000 | Dropped | COM-0160-004 | Pending | Medium | Delhi | 0 | REC-0160-004 |
| 100000 | 2026-04-01 | At large | | 42 | Active | | Closed | 12.5 | Urban | Positive | Medium | PEN-0160-005 | 0 | True |
| Dropped | Pending | N/A | Positive | Unresolved | EST-0160-006 | Detected | 85 | High | Inactive | Detected | Kolkata | 2026-04-01 | High | REC-0160-006 |
| Arrested | Positive | 2026-04-15 | 3.5 | Secure | Pending | 85 | Secure | Not detected | Compromised | 100000 | Low | PEN-0160-007 | At large | REC-0160-007 |
| Low | DAT-0160-008 | LOC-0160-008 | N/A | Delhi | | HAZ-0160-008 | Pending | Pending | Secure | Compromised | Compromised | True | 42 | REC-0160-008 |
| 12.5 | 12.5 | 25000 | Mumbai | QUA-0160-009 | 2026-03-15 | Yes | 85 | Chennai | Compromised | Arrested | Pending | False | Secure | Positive |
| 2026-04-01 | 2026-04-01 | LOC-0160-010 | Pending | Closed | 2026-03-15 | 85 | Medium | Arrested | | Unresolved | 25000 | 1 | 2026-04-15 | Pending |


Full dataset: https://github.com/arora200/aplly_case_db/datasets/108-enviro-illegal-dumping (synthetic, 13 records)

## Solution Frameworks
Source identification & dispersion reasoning, impact assessment, satellite/remote-sensing triangulation, regulatory checklist

## Solver Guidance & Tutorials
_Solver guidance added by the pipeline (tutorial links) — see `solver_guidance` field._

## What You'll Learn
- Attribute a source from scattered evidence
- Quantify impact with estimation
- Argue against your own hypothesis

## Tags
Waste Dumping, Environmental Crime, Chemical Analysis, Transport Investigation

## Registration Links
Register as Solver / Register as Evaluator