Development of a Master Plan for Water Pollution Control Using MCDM Techniques: A Case Study

Abstract

Excessive demand for water due to a growing population, agricultural, and industrial development, along with climate change and depletion of nonrenewable resources have intensified the need for integrated water resources management and water pollution control. This paper presents different aspects of a master plan for water pollution control and the results of a case study for developing a master plan for water resources pollution control in Isfahan Province in Iran. Different components of the water resources system and pollution sources in the study area were identified and the effects of each of the pollution sources on surface and groundwater resources contamination were investigated. Two Multiple Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) techniques, namely Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method and Analytical Hierarchy Structure (AHP) were used in order to determine the share of agricultural, industrial, and domestic sectors in polluting the water resources. In the application of MCDM techniques, engineering judgments and the information gathered from brain storming sessions with engineering experts and the agencies' officials have also been incorporated in order to overcome the data deficiency in this region for this type of analysis. Based on this study, several specific major categories of water pollution reduction projects were defined and in each category, several projects were identified. The total cost of implementation of the projects was also estimated and the projects were prioritized based on their potential impact on water pollution control.