L. Duckstein et al., RANKING GROUNDWATER-MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES BY MULTICRITERION ANALYSIS, Journal of water resources planning and management, 120(4), 1994, pp. 546-565
An application of four multicriterion decision making (MCDM) technique
s to a typical ground-water management problem is presented. Criteria
representing pumping yield, total costs, and water-shortage risk are c
onsidered. The management model expressed in such a multicriterion for
m is based on the finite-element method and a combined embedding/respo
nse matrix method. This model is used to generate a discrete represent
ation of a nondominated solution set. Four MCDM techniques: compromise
programming, ELECTRE III, multiattribute utility function, and UTA me
thod representing, respectively, distance-based, outranking, and utili
ty (multiplicative and additive forms) approaches are examined as pote
ntial decision-aid tools to select the appropriate management scheme.
Comparison of the results shows that these quite different MCDM techni
ques lead to a similar subset of recommended solutions. Adequacy of th
ese techniques for ground-water management is discussed from the point
s of view of technique characteristics, decision maker's expectations,
analyst's knowledge required, and method output, that is, ranking of
alternatives