MULTI-ATTRIBUTE DECISION-ANALYSIS FOR THE PROTECTION OF GROUNDWATER RESOURCES

The City of San Antonio is faced with the difficult decision of how to protect its sole water source, the Edwards aquifer, from the threat of pollution resulting from urban sprawl over the aquifer recharge zone. This decision problem has been structured as a decision analysis model to provide local decision-makers with a highly objective and easily-documented means of deciding among alternative management policies. Multi-attribute utility functions were used as the measure of effectiveness for the various alternatives. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to illustrate the degree to which the solution of the problem was dependent upon the identified uncertain events.