Author(s): Patricia Jitta Abdulai, Eun-Sung Chung, Yeonjoo Kim
Linked Author(s): Patricia Jitta Abdulai
Keywords: Water quality vulnerability, Han River basin, TOPSIS, Shannon entropy
Abstract: Assessing water resources vulnerability is very significant to keep water resources safely in a basin. This study uses the three sub-components of vulnerability as defined and suggested by the IPCC (i. e. exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity). The aim of this study is to compare the significance of using different weighting methods to assess the spatial water quality vulnerability in the Han River Basin using TOPSIS among the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods and applied to the unit basin including indicators of hydrological and socio-economic factors. Thirteen (13) water quality indicators are selected to quantify the vulnerability using the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution approach (TOPSIS). Environmental and socioeconomic data are obtained from the national statistics database and is used to simulate results by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The results shows relatively high maximum consecutive dry days with distinct distribution of water quality indices. Therefore, this study shows the significance of comparing Subjective and objective weights in order to help decision makers of spatial water quality vulnerability in prioritization of water sustainability and water policy planning in maintaining the water quality in the Han River basin
Year: 2017