Watersheds management ranking using Analytical Network Process (ANP) and a hybrid algorithm based on ANP- fuzzy TOPSIS methods

Water is a main resource in sustainable development planning where the management of quality and quantity of these resources play an important role in public health and social welfare. On the other hand، due to social، economic and environmental values of this vital resource، water resource management is considered as a very important task. The long term water strategies are not only a useful guide in codification of water management plans in watersheds but also affect the optimal utilization of water resources through creating links among different management sectors. In national water allocation planning، ranking watersheds is a serious part of integrated water management which is less referred in the literature. In this study the ANP method and a novel hybrid algorithm based on ANP-FuzzyTOPSIS method are employed and compared. Different critical watersheds in Iran included Oroomeyeh، Atrak، Sefidrood، Namak and Zayandehrood are considered as alternatives. The results indicate that Oroomeyeh and Atrak show the highest and the lowest scores، respectively. It means Oroomeyeh is a critical watershed by considering water strategies and applying water strategies in this watershed is more important than others.