Equitable Allocation of Water Resources Using Shannon Entropy Theory in Compromise Programming Method

Because of the significant impact of water on economic development, social stability and ecological balance, the allocation of water resources has become a worldwide issue. In this paper, a multi-objective planning model consist of two objective functions was developed for water allocation to maximize the productivity of economical benefit and the equity of water allocation in Sefidroud basin located in Iran. A Compromise Programming method was applied to trade off both the objective functions. The different weights of the objective functions and the definitions of TDS, DSA and DSB schemes were investigated in terms of equity, economical benefit productivity and equity establishment. The results showed that TDS is the best scheme for balancing the target functions. With the except of TDS, surface water allocation and economical benefit do not follow a particular pattern in other weights of target functions, so that decision makers are confused to choose the best weights of the objective functions. Shannon Entropy theory is a suitable solution for selecting the best weights of the objective functions. The results obtained by applying the Shannon Entropy theory showed that the best weights of the objective functions for the productivity of economical benefit and water allocation equity according to the decision maker’s priority were 0.35 and 0.65, respectively. Generally, the results of this study showed that if decision maker’s priorities were not clear, Shannon Entropy theory and Compromise Programming method could be used to determine the weights of each objective functions in order to make a balance among the objective functions.