Comprehensive evaluation of security, equity, and efficiency on regional water resources coordination using a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making method with different hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets

Abstract

Regional water resources coordination (RWRC) plays a prominent role in long-term sustainability. In order to achieve harmonious utilization of regional water resources, it is suggested that local governments should focus on balancing three goals - security, equity, and efficiency, resulting in both ecological and socio-economic benefits in a region. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive evaluation methodology for assessing the degree of RWRC. First, a security-equity-efficiency (SEE) evaluation indicator system is established. A novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach that integrates decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (in Serbian, known as VIKOR) method considering two different hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets (HFLTSs) is then proposed. With this approach, a final ranking is obtained for six alternatives for the RWRC of the relevant regions (i.e., Shandong Province, Henan Province, Hebei Province, Anhui Province, Tian City, Jiangsu Province) in North China Plain, and the six relevant regions receive coordination performance ranking of II, III, V, I, VI, IV. Moreover, comparison analysis and sensitivity analysis are conducted to verify the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed method and dig deep into the RWRC conditions in the studied regions. Finally, some managerial suggestions are provided for strengthening the coordination levels in these regions.