Decision Support Model for Raw Water Availability for Purification in a Region in Chile

Abstract

This article proposes a decision model to identify the most sustainable solution(s) to ensure the availability of raw water to be subsequently treated to be converted into drinking water as a consequence of the climate change scenario, particularly the drought currently experienced by the Metropolitan Region in Chile, derived from the technical and regulatory requirements associated with the availability of water resources from its capture to its drink ability to meet the future demand of the region. From the perspective of drought, the solution must provide security levels that guarantee the availability of raw water is one of the main concerns of the stakeholders. In turn, the need to adapt current regulations regarding raw water sources, as well as community acceptance of some proposals for converting raw water into potable water and climate dependency, involve qualitative as well as technical aspects that may affect the investment and operating costs of the different solutions required to ensure raw water availability. Therefore, through a multi-criteria approach, it is possible to incorporate quantifiable and intangible aspects and to address conflicting objectives. Through a case study, we present a decision model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to define and evaluate the most sustainable solution(s) to secure raw water for drinking. This study proposes to integrate technical and qualitative attributes to identify the challenging criteria and the associated linkage to the problem of selecting proposals for the most sustainable solution(s) to secure raw water, being a guide to decide the implementation of the most appropriate solution.