Selection of Municipal Drinking Water Treatment Approach using Multiple Criteria

Abstract

This study evaluates different treatment methods for municipal drinking water based on a multicriteria decision-making framework. Four main criteria (risk, cost, technical feasibility, and performance) were included. Fuzzy triangular membership functions were developed to capture the uncertainty of basic criteria. Uncertainty was propagated through a multistage framework, where an analytical hierarchy process was followed to assign the relative importance of different level criteria. Conventional treatment with chlorination was identified as the best option for small municipal systems while enhanced treatment with chlorination and conventional treatment with chloramination were deemed as the second and third options, respectively. The evaluation was sensitive to the relative importance of different criteria.