A multicriterion analysis of the water allocation conflict in the Upper Rio Grande basin

The water allocation conflict in the Upper Rio Grande basin is a multiobjective decision problem with multiple decision makers. The problem is analyzed by two Multicriterion Decision Making (MCDM) techniques. The criteria used to rank alternatives consist of: 1) economic factors including operation, maintenance and allocation costs: damage losses, benefits for flood control, recreation, water supply, and water quality; 2) environmental factors which comprise aesthetics (scenic reaches, social impacts), fish habitat (number of species by reach, catch-per-hour, temperature), recreation (water quality, recreation by visitor-day), riparian land (percent protection, development possibility), and erosion control (tons of sediment produced, capacity exceedance); 3) groundwater management policies, including equity of allocation; conjunctive use possibility and allocation subsidies, and 3) biological resources factors consisting of flora and fauna species. These criteria are defined numerically. Compromise Programming and ELECTRE III are applied to rank the alternatives selected. The numerical results are analyzed, compared,and interpreted.