Author(s): Antonio Carlos Zuffo
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Water Resources Planning; Decision aid; Fuzzy Multi-Criteria; Fuzzy-CP; Fuzzy-CGT
Abstract: This paper addresses the application of two different multi-criteria methods, which are suitable for the water resources planning and management. The multi-criteria methods chosen are the “Cooperative Game Theory” (CGT) and “Compromise Programming” (CP). Both of them are based on distance and are suitable for ranking and selecting feasible and previously created alternatives. The incorporation of environmental, social, technical and economical criteria are necessary to accomplish this purpose. Yet, fuzzy numbers better describe some social and environmental criteria, since they easily incorporate subjectivity. In general, fuzzy sets allow the expression of values or set values for the criteria in percentage or in a small range of possibility and, also, provide the possibility of incorporating the experts' experience. Fifteen criteria were considered to analyze 8 alternatives. The CGT and CP methods were adapted to work with the triangular shape fuzzy numbers, used to represent their pertinence function. Many of the environmental and social criteria were evaluated by using IDRISI, a Geographical Information System (GIS). The Cotia river basin (Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area-Brazil) was selected for the case study. The proposed fuzzy incorporation of social, environmental and economical criteria showed themselves to be feasible and reliable, improving the decision making process.
Year: 2009