Multi-criteria decision-making for water resource management in the Berg Water management area

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The concept of social welfare maximisation directs strategic decision-making within a milieu ofintegrated planning problems. This study applies the aforementioned statement to decision-makingregarding the long-term allocation of bulk-water resources in the Berg Water Management Area ofSouth Africa. Public goods, such as bulk water supply infrastructure, is vulnerable to failures inmarket and government allocation strategies because both fields are subjected to unaccounted costsand benefits. This implies a measurement problem for the quantification of the total cost/benefit ofmanagement options and result in decision-making with incomplete information. Legitimatedecision-making depends on reliable and accurate information, and the measurement problem,therefore, poses an obstacle to better social welfare maximisation.A need has been identified to broaden the decision-making context in the Berg Water ManagementArea to promote the accommodation of unaccounted for costs and benefits in water resourceallocation decision-making. This study engaged this need by expanding the temporal and spatialdimensions of the decision-making context. Accordingly, improved indecision-making informationand decision-support processes is needed. Spatial expansions manifested in physical expansions ofthe decision-making boundaries that led to expansions in representation in the decision-makingprocess. Temporal expansions manifested in the consideration of different sequences of bulksupply schemes over time instead of a selection of schemes at the same time.The study incorporated components of economic valuation theory, multi-criteria decision analysis, apublic survey and a modified Delphi expert panel technique to account for the increased decisionmakinginformation load. The approach was applied in the Western Cape province of South Africaand specifically focused on a choice problem regarding different long-term bulk-water resourcemanagement options for the area. Two surveys were completed to accommodate these expansions.The first focused on public preference in water allocation management and the second surveyutilized a modified Delphi technique. Questions regarding the extend of public participation inlong-term water resource allocation decision-making came to the fore and the applicability ofeconomic theory to accommodate public preference as a regulatory instrument, was questioned. Awillingness to pay for 'greener water was observed and may be used to motivate a paradigm shiftfrom management's perspective to consider, without fear of harming their own political position,'greener water supply options more seriously even if these options imply higher direct costs.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University