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Multicriteria approach to water quality evaluation

Abstract:

A methodology to the practical evaluation of the term "water quality" using multicriteria procedures is proposed. Based on the current knowledge of the Operations Research area and, practical issues for water quality evaluation, the methodology was structured taking into account its ability to manage the underlying uncertainty and complexity in such kind of evaluations. Two cases -drinking water and irrigation water quality evaluation- have shown its applicability. In both cases the proposed methodology has shown to efficiently support the decision making process, allowing the articulation of the preferences and values of the involved decision makers, handling the implicit rationality in search of the required coherence and process documentation. As a result, a simple and flexible decision model was developed, which allows to include and modify the chosen attributes as a consequence of the learning and mastering of the matter or the information gain.