Water supply system decision making using multicriteria analysis

Abstract

Sound decision-making processes for investments in water supply systems need to be developed. This need arises from the problem observed in developing countries of a growing demand for water supply projects coupled with a lack of financial resources available to invest in them. A second problem is the selection of a locality that is most in need of assistance for the implementation of the water supply system. This study describes the application of multicriteria decision aid for choosing the priority city to receive a water supply system, using the ELECTRE methodology. It was found that this type of methodology accommodates the decision-making in selecting a locality, with the capacity to integrate weighted qualitative judgment criteria, incorporating the concordance and discordance indices, specifying an efficient allocation of resources available and thus maximising gains.