Comparison of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (f-AHP) for the Sustainability Assessment of a Water Supply Project

Ensuring sustainability in community-based water supply schemes involves major hurdles in identifying and prioritizing the key aspects with a comprehensive decision-making process. In this study, the concept of sustainability has been assessed for an intra-state water supply scheme using analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process by systematically prioritizing various design and operational aspects. It has been adopted a three-level classification of the key attributes such as 5 dimensions, 15 sub-criteria and 50 indicators. The environmental dimension (41%) is found to have the highest importance in the measurement of sustainability of this project, followed by the social (22%), governance (20%), economical (8%) and infrastructure (6.8%) dimensions. Among the sub-criteria, quality at the source demands highest priority followed by cost-effectiveness. Among the indicators, water testing frequency carries the maximum weightage, followed by public participation and consultation. The results indicate the influence of scale and functioning stage of the project on prioritizing and decision-making. The study also recommends the scope of improving the social and governance factors together (in terms of transparency, flexibility and serviceability) by increased public involvement. The results from the study can serve as a valuable guideline for planning and implementation of similar projects for sustainable development. © 2022, The Institution of Engineers (India).