A New Integrated MADM Technique Combined with ANP,FTOPSIS and Fuzzy Max-Min Set Method for Evaluating Water Transfer Projects

In sustainable water resources management, it is essential to rank inter-basin water transfer projects. This task is difficult due to many different conflict criteria, complex relations among criteria and various judgments of decision makers. In this paper, an integrated multiple attribute group decision making method consists of ANP (Analytical Network Process), fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy max-min set methods is proposed for evaluating water transfer projects. A set of over 60 criteria in social, environmental and economic sectors are used for ranking four water transfer projects in Karun River based on three decision maker judgments. A key novelty of the proposed methodology is its ability to model both complex relations among different criteria in water management and the influence of decision maker judgments’ weights on the final ranking in group decision making problem. The procedure starts by obtaining the priority of water transfer projects and the weight of each decision maker judgments by employing ANP and fuzzy TOPSIS, respectively. These weights are used as inputs in the fuzzy max-min set method. Then the effects of decision maker weights on the final ranking are determined in fuzzy environment. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of decision makers’ weights has been conducted. The results show that the proposed method is an effective tool for group decision making problems by considering different criteria and decision makers’ weights.     

Integrated Use of a Continuous Simulation Model and Multi-Attribute Decision-Making for Ranking Urban Watershed Management Alternatives

The objective of this paper is to introduce a continuous simulation-based screening procedure for ranking urban watershed management alternatives using multi-attribute decision making (MADM). The procedure integrates continuous urban runoff simulation results from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) with the use of an alternative evaluation index (AEI) and MADM techniques, following the driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) approach. The analytic hierarchy process estimates the weights of the criteria, and SWMM results are used to quantify the effects of the management alternatives on water quantity and quality metrics. In addition, the tendency of AEI to reflect resident preferences toward management objectives is incorporated to include stakeholder participation in the decision-making process. This systematic decision support process is demonstrated for a Korean urban watershed. According to the AEI, seven alternatives were divided into three groups: poor (0∼0.3), acceptable (0.3∼0.6), and good (0.6∼1). The use of multiple MADM techniques provided a consistency check. The demonstration illustrates the ability of the continuous simulation-based MADM approach to provide decision makers with a ranking of suitable urban watershed management alternatives which incorporate stakeholder feedback.     

Comparison of Compensatory and non-Compensatory Multi Criteria Decision Making Models in Water Resources Strategic Management

Growing water demands as well as inconsistency between water demand and water supply pose new challenges for water resources managers in arid regions. This study examines the strategies to tackle water shortage for a sustainable development in Shahrood, Iran. A contentious plan has been proposed to transfer water from the Caspian Sea in north of Iran to this region. Ensuring sustainable development, however, necessitates a strategic planning for water resources. The study develops all viable strategies for the region using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Due to inability of the SWOT model to rank the alternatives, the developed strategies are ranked using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) models based on specified sustainable development criteria. The ranking is implemented using the compensatory models of Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and the non-compensatory model of ELimination and Choice Translating REality (ELECTRE III). The results of all MCDM models introduce water transfer as the worst strategy for the region. Because of the uncertainty in the relative importance of specified criteria, sensitivity analysis is done for MCDM models by altering the criteria weights. The results show that the ELECTRE III method has lower sensitivity than the SAW and AHP methods to changes in the weights. Also, the compensatory methods exhibits a high dependency to the weights of some dominant criteria. Therefore, this research reveals that the rankings obtained from the ELECTRE III method are more reliable for decision makers to ensure a sustainable development in the region.     

A Multicriteria Group Decision Model to Support Watershed Committees in Brazil

The involvement of multiple decision makers in water resources management can be very complex, involving the possibilities of conflicts amongst the stakeholders and the influence of powerful members over the preference of others. The inherent characteristic of decisions also increases this complexity due to many alternatives being involved and there being multiple criteria. Some of these criteria conflict with each other and the consequences of which will have great impact on those involved and on third parties. Therefore, a group decision support system model based on multicriteria analysis can be a powerful tool to support this kind of management. This study presents a tool to support the committee responsible for the management of the watersheds in Brazil in order to promote decentralization and the participation of all involved in the water resources management. The tool provides a ranking of alternatives for the environmental recuperation of the watershed through the use of the multicriteria method PROMETHEE II. For each decision maker, the alternatives were ranked and then the individual rankings were combined into a global ranking which contained the preferences of the whole group.     

Evaluating the Relative Power of Water Users in Inter-Basin Water Transfer Systems

One of the challenging issues in designing and operation of inter-basin water transfer systems is quantifying the relative power of water users. In this paper, a comprehensive set of criteria including regional gross income, water efficiency, presence of alternative water resources, self-sufficiency, existence of agricultural and industrial infrastructures, receiving political support of the government and parliament, and preference-based power is proposed to determine the power of water users in a quantitative way. Then, some well-known Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods, namely Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Analytical Network Process (ANP), Evidential Reasoning (ER), Method for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation (TOPSIS) and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE II), are utilized to evaluate the power of water users in inter-basin water allocation systems. In this paper, the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance are applied to compare the ranking outputs resulting from different MCDM methods. At last, the proposed approach is applied to a large-scale case study of water transfer from the Karoon River basin to the Rafsanjan plain in the central part of Iran.     

A Compromise Ratio Method with an Application to Water Resources Management: An Intuitionistic Fuzzy Set

Water resources management can be regarded as an iterative process of general decision making considering the applications and modifications of waters and related lands within a geographic region. This process helps decision makers to balance their diverse requirements and applications of water as an environmental resource, and to recognize how their activities can have impacts on the long-term sustainability. This paper introduces a new compromise ratio method based on Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy sets under multiple criteria in real-life situations. Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (AIFWA) operator is applied to aggregate individual judgments of the decision makers to rate the relative importance of the selected criteria and potential alternatives. Then a new Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy ranking index is proposed to analyze the potential alternatives. Finally, the performance of the proposed fuzzy decision-making method is illustrated to a real water resources management problem from the recent literature. Computational results demonstrate that the presented method can be utilized in a large-scale multi-level assessment process to assist the decision makers the optimal solution among the potential alternatives with multiple conflicting and compromising criteria.     

A Negotiation-Based Multi-Objective, Multi-Party Decision-Making Model for Inter-Basin Water Transfer Scheme Optimization

The planning and management decisions often involve multiple objectives and multiple parties with conflicting interests due to the complexity of inter-basin water transfer systems. In this paper, the objectives, the groups involved and the corresponding conflicting interests that characterize water transfer decisions are analyzed. A multi-party, multi-objective decision/bargaining model based on the ??satisfaction principle?? is developed for inter-basin water transfer system decision-making. In order to obtain an ideal multi-party decision, bargaining is first broken down into two stages, and then decision alternatives are chosen using fuzzy pattern recognition. This model is simple, and it is more adaptable for solving practical multi-objective and multi-party decision problems. Finally, an inter-basin water transfer scheme optimization example is demonstrated by using the developed model.     

An Approach to Elaborate Priority Preorders of Water Resources Projects Based on Multi-Criteria Evaluation and Fuzzy Sets Analysis

Water scarcity is one important problem among many water problems that are present today and will be even more noticeable in the future. Many developing countries have investigated water resources projects to satisfy their demand in water. There is no enough financial capability to execute all these projects in one lot, so it is important to elaborate a priority execution plan related to these projects to identify the sequence of projects to be executedin order of priority (priority preorder). First the conditions required for an accurate priority preorder elaboration are outlined and the evaluations of the different goals or criteria are presented. Then an appropriate methodology to determine the priority preorders of water resources projects with respect to the defined criteria is developed. Lastly, an example of application is given in order to examine the various steps of the proposed methodology and its applicability is discussed.     

Decision-making criteria and indicators for water and sanitation projects in developing countries

Water and sanitation projects for solving the needs of small communities in developing countries are complex in nature and involve complex decision-making, which must consider technical, socioeconomic and environmental dimensions. Multicriteria analysis (MCA) is a suitable decision-aid method that scores a finite number of options on the basis of a set of evaluation criteria. The main challenge in MCA is choosing the appropriate criteria and evaluation indicators to use for assessment. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive and wide list of criteria and evaluation indicators as a guideline in MCA of water and basic sanitation projects in small rural communities of developing countries. First, the paper details the general criteria to be considered in all the projects, which are classified in to 4 main groups: technical (e.g., local resources use, appropriate management); social (e.g., local community participation, overcoming discrimination of conflict); economic (e.g., low cost, employment of local staff) and environmental criteria (e.g., atmospheric emissions, water pollution). Then, it describes technical criteria to be additionally considered in each specific type of project: water supply (e.g., water needs, independent access), water treatment (e.g., constant resource availability, flexibility of use for different types of water) and basic sanitation projects (e.g., maximum number of people per system, effluent quality).     

Using Promethee V to Select Alternatives so as to Rehabilitate Water Supply Network with Detected Leaks

The problem of the ageing infrastructure of urban water distribution networks and the loss of water associated with this has been one of the greatest infrastructure problems in urban areas. When a leakage is detected in the water supply network, problems arise when seeking to rehabilitate the network. Therefore, the decision problem is to choose which components to add or to improve and to maximize the benefits, which will result from the changes implemented. In addition, it is important to minimize costs, since water supply companies have limited budgets. Moreover, there are often several leakage points in the same water supply network and in the same period of analysis. Therefore, this paper puts forward a model for rehabilitating the greatest number of leakage points in a water network; it respects the constraints which a water company may have. Promethee V is used to assist the decision maker (DM) in selecting a set of feasible alternatives for rehabilitating the network from the criteria and the constraints set by the DM on the problem. For demonstration purposes, the proposed model was tested in a simulated network.     

锦州市供水工程小凌河段环境现状调查分析

由于我国水资源空间分布不均,为解决部分地区缺水问题,近些年建设了一些跨流域输水工程。这些输水工程有时会借助实际河道输水。输水工程所经河道的环境状况可能会对用水安全产生影响,因此,本文针对小凌河干流输水工程段的环境现状采用实地查勘、调查、断面流量测验、取样分析的方法分析了沿途取水、排水以及蒸发、入渗等对项目段河道水量的影响。调查发现: 本项目段损失水量为732.17 万m³, 占辽西北供水量的5.6%,东大屯断面年径流量为1 438万m³,远大于损失水量,因此不会对辽西北供水水量产生重大影响;通过5个监测断面的水质分析,部分断面水质级别为劣Ⅴ类,分析认为是沿河分布的禽畜养殖单元等未得到足够处理,对该河段水体产生污染。这对未来流经此河段的供水水质会造成影响。建议对河道沿途环境进行保护治理,杜绝禽畜养殖污染物未经有效处理直排入河道,保证锦州市供水工程的用水安全。     

加利福尼亚州调水工程的法制建设与资金筹措

加利福尼亚州是美国水资源供需矛盾最为尖锐的地区。为有效解决加利福尼亚州水资源供给不足的难题，该州先后兴建了多项调水工程，在这些调水工程的建设和管理过程中积累了许多值得借鉴的经验。基于加利福尼亚州已有调水工程的实例，对调水工程的法制建设、资金筹措与偿还机制等方面的内容进行了介绍和总结。     

An Objective Method to Prioritize Socio‐Environmental Water Management Tradeoffs Using Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis

Rivers provide many social and environmental services that benefit humanity. A critical role of water mangers is to prioritize water allocation options that trade off socio‐economic and hydro‐ecological benefits in rivers. Methods for multi‐criteria decision analysis (MCDA) provide a structured and systematic manner for researchers to aid in this process. In this paper, we describe a new MCDA method that prioritizes large multi‐dimensional sets of tradeoffs to support well‐informed water management in rivers. The method was developed based on an environmental flows planning study in the Goulburn‐Broken River catchment, Victoria, Australia. A combined simulation and heuristic optimization procedure was previously integrated into a hydrological catchment network model. That process resulted in a large set of viable daily water allocation schedules that traded off long‐term irrigation and hydro‐ecological benefits at the catchment outlet. We provided new guidance procedures to identify priority tradeoffs that can be used in stakeholder deliberations and catchment decision‐making. Our MCDA method included combined multi‐dimensional ordination and cluster analysis to spread the water allocation alternatives onto a two‐dimensional plane to discover alternatives with similar criteria tradeoffs. A geometric distance‐based method was performed on the full set of alternatives and on the identified clusters to rank the alternatives in accordance with minimizing the distance of the alternatives to an ideal but non‐feasible reference point in multi‐dimensional space. This method complements the use of elicitation procedures when water manager or other stakeholder interaction is not an option or when objectivity is desired. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Editorial Comments on the World Commission on Water for the 21stCentury

Abstract

In this study, in order to create a decision-making model on water resources projects, a hierarchy of criteria has been developed by public participation. The Value Management methodology has been used for extraction of the effective criteria and attributes in the scope of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). The hierarchy is generic for water resources management in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Since the evaluations of alternatives with respect to some attributes are uncertain and vague, fuzzy set theory has been used. By merging fuzzy set theory and multi-attribute decision-making a new Decision Support System (DSS), namely FDM, has been developed to compare different alternatives. As an innovation, FDM accepts evaluations of alternatives with respect to the attributes as crisp variables, fuzzy variables, and linguistic variables. FDM embodies an expert system whose duty is to choose an appropriate method among the SAW, Fuzzy SAW, TOPSIS or Fuzzy TOPSIS based on the characteristics of the problem.

The central and Southeastern regions of Iran are considered arid regions, suffering from water shortages. In this paper, water transfers to the Zayanderud basin in Iran have been modeled by FDM. Successful application of this DSS in this study allows for its application by water authorities in other case studies.     

中小城镇供水项目的主要环境影响

基于中小城镇供水项目的环境影响评价实践,研究了该类项目的工程特点及环境特征,分析了项目建设对自然环境和社会环境各方面的影响,阐述了主要的影响方面,并探讨了影响分析中应注意的问题。中小城镇供水项目规模较小,水源一般选取县城上游的河流、水库或地下水,净水厂选址于城市规划区边缘,周边为农村地带,其影响主要体现在水资源、生态环境、居民生活、城市交通及人群健康等方面。同时,供水项目受外部环境的影响,如水量水质的保障等制约因素也是重要的环境问题。文中通过评价实例重点探讨了中小城镇供水项目评价重点之一的水源地方案分析及水源水质的污染分析与保护。     

福建省新农村饮水安全工程运行管理机制研究

福建省从2004年大范围建设农村饮水安全工程以来,各地水利部门重视建后管理工作,按照供水工程特点、资金筹集方式和受益情况,采取专管、群管、专管与群管相结合的分级管理、自管等模式,积极引导广大农民主动参与管理,较好地保障了工程的良性运行。但在运行管理中也存在一些问题,针对福建省农村饮水安全工程的特点,提出了加强新农村饮水安全工程运行管理的建议。     

Application of Decision Support System for Sustainable Management of Water Resources in the Azraq Basin—Jordan

Abstract

Water scarcity in Jordan is a significant constraint to development, with limited available water and financial resources. As population and economic activity increase, it will be necessary to implement national strategies that seek to balance the present needs and those of future generations. Multiple variables associated with agricultural crops, industries, and the impact of climate change, were incorporated into a Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS utilized Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which resulted in the prioritization of sustainable water policies for management in the Azraq Basin. The inputs to the DSS were generated through application of Modflow (groundwater), stochastic, and Penman Montieth models and through calculations of water productivity for agricultural and industrial sectors. The results of the DSS make recommendations as to how to enhance long-term sustainability of water resources in Azraq, while allowing for water utilization and economic growth. It is recommended for future planning that further research of the impacts to water resources must be conducted at local and national levels and linked to regional and global climate change prediction. It can be concluded that the DSS tool and AHP are potentially positive contributions to the process of decision- making for selection and ranking of alternatives and policies and for help in solving problems that include conflicting criteria.     

南水北调中线水源工程调水管理研究

跨流域调水工程的管理与运营包含了技术、经济、环境、社会等多行业和多学科的许多复杂问题,如何进行合理运行、科学调度和有效管理,是实现跨流域调水工程项目最终规划目标和获得最大综合效益的重要因素。本文介绍了国内外对跨流域调水工程管理体制的一些做法和探索性研究,分析了国内外调水工程的成功经验和存在的问题,并针对南水北调中线水源工程调水管理提出研究思路,供借鉴。     

Locating Water Desalination Facilities for Municipal Drinking Water Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Characteristics of Groundwater in Iran’s Desert Regions

Groundwater resources have become the main resources for water supply due to the unavailability of surface water in arid zones. Arid zone’s damage to groundwater resources will have a high impact on human life in arid zones comparing to other regions. Due to the lack of surface water resources in these arid zones, groundwater is used as a resource for drinking and sanitation purposes due to the lack of surface water resources in these arid zones. Water desalination facilities are set up in locations where there is both sufficient amount of water (quantitative criteria) and the extracted water has adequate quality (qualitative criteria). Therefore, an optimization model should be used to locate optimal places for water desalination facilities. Multi-criteria decision-making models are mathematical techniques that, by using the geographic information system, are able to evaluate the options under complicated and indefinite geographic conditions. This research prepares information and factor maps to assign weights to qualitative water maps which were combined in the form of an inductive network. Therefore, by employing the concept of fuzzy fusion models, this article presents a method for solving multi-criteria geographically-indeterminate problems, and finally finds an appropriate location for the construction of a water desalination system in the desert region of Birjand in Iran.     

输水工程建设中的若干环境问题

通过对跨地区、跨流域输水工程的研究 ,加之相关工程的设计和环境影响评价工作的实践 ,对输水工程建设中的水源水质、施工区水土保持、输水线路比选与生态环境保护、环境医学与人群健康、水源保护、动迁安置与公众参与、施工期劳动保护等环境问题进行归纳 ,提出可供类似工程参考的分析意见。