Title: Multi-criteria decision making and GIS techniques in the design of a stream gauging network

Authors: Aimilia-Panagiota Theochari; Elissavet Feloni; Apollon Bournas; Dimitrios Karpouzos; Evangelos Baltas

Addresses: Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 5 Iroon Polytechniou, 157-80, Athens, Greece ' Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 5 Iroon Polytechniou, 157-80, Athens, Greece ' Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 5 Iroon Polytechniou, 157-80, Athens, Greece ' Department of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece ' Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 5 Iroon Polytechniou, 157-80, Athens, Greece

Abstract: The design of a proper stream gauging network is a requirement in order to obtain accurate flow information, important for various purposes such as water resources management, flood forecasting and climate change impact assessment. Therefore, while it is necessary to minimise the number of stations in terms of feasibility and cost, the most suitable locations should be defined. In this context, this paper presents a GIS-based multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) for stream gauging network design. The proposed approach incorporates various criteria, while criteria weights were estimated for three scenarios regarding hierarchy using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the fuzzy AHP (FAHP), in order to illustrate the impact of the selected method to the design. GIS-based MCDM may contribute to the station network design, as a way to minimise the necessary field exploration. Finally, it is observed that different design scenarios and criteria number affect the location suitability score.

Keywords: hydrometric station network; river monitoring; floods; geographic information system; GIS; multi-criteria decision making; MCDM.

DOI: 10.1504/WRSTSD.2019.104097

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 2019 Vol.15 No.4, pp.358 - 377

Received: 28 Feb 2019
Accepted: 24 Jun 2019
Published online: 13 Dec 2019 *

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