A computerizable analysis system for determining maximum benefit per increment of capital expenditure has been developed to aid the Environmental Protection Agency in selecting those research projects which will provide the greatest amount of water pollution abatement per dollar expended. Five main subsets with a total of 24 information sources are used to provide input, with the variables listed in terms of relative rankings rather than absolute values. The subsets are: (1) Effluent constituents; (2) Industrial groups; (3) State dimensions; (4) Project descriptions; and (5) General statistics. The system has been developed for implementation on the basis of aggregation of data on a state-by-state basis, but the geographical base may be readily expanded to include river basins, or contracted to run on a county by county basis. The system accounts for both past and current fundings of projects, allows policy decisions on the part of EPA management to be superimposed at several levels, and permits analysis of the effects of various policy decisions.