Optimal location selection for installation of surface water treatment plant by Gini coefficient-based analytical hierarchy process

Abstract

The present study tries to utilize the advantage of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in the selection of an ideal location for installation or relocation of surface water treatment plant (SWTP). But among the existing MCDM methods, the selection of features and their importance is determined by the decision-maker. Also a decision from the method varies with a change in the decision-maker or change in the methods. In this aspect, the present study tries to propose a new MCDM which introduced Gini coefficient method in analytical hierarchy process to make the resultant priority value clearly differentiated and easily separable from the other alternatives. This new method was applied to find a suitable location for SWTP installation or relocation, and according to the results, the decision of the method is coherent with the existing installations where locations with active SWTP receive higher rating compared to the areas where SWTP is not installed. Result displays that the labour cost (LC) and construction cost were found to be most significant compared to others. Both X-chart and analytic hierarchy process have identified water quality as the most significant parameter whereby the Gini method located the LC parameter to be the most vital.