Application of multi-criteria decision-making techniques for selection of appropriate household treatment method

Abstract

Household water treatment technologies have emerged as an important option for providing safe drinking water to people and communities without having access to improved water supplies. Many such technologies are available and selection of an appropriate technology from the set of available alternatives is difficult as it involves multiple criteria and non-quantifiable parameters. An attempt is made in this paper to present application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and VIKOR techniques for ranking the household water treatment methods. Six household treatment methods were considered for six criteria weighted according to a panel of experts. The evaluation showed that chlorine disinfection as the most appropriate method followed by boiling by both the techniques. The proposed methodology is a rationalized process for realistic scenarios where multiple stakeholders and priorities are involved in selection of a household water treatment technology.