Fuzzy best-worst method and its application in initial water rights allocation

Allocating initial water rights in a river basin is not only a significant problem but also an essential research topic. It plays a crucial role in promoting the construction of a system of water rights and water-saving society as well as alleviating the contradiction between water supply and demand. Thus, the effective initial allocation of water rights has theoretical and practical significance for enhancing water rights management in China. First, this paper analyzes the impact of the strictest water resources management system on the establishment of the main criteria in the initial water rights allocation index system of a basin, including social, economic and environmental benefit criteria. Then, a new fuzzy comparison-based method, namely the fuzzy best-worst method (FBWM), is proposed to determine the weights of criteria and a procedure for group decision-making by FBWM is put forward. Finally, a case study about the initial water rights allocation in the Huaihe River Basin is illustrated to show how the developed FBWM works for real-world applications. Sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis with the existing methods are also provided to show the performance of the proposed method. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.