Identification of spatial ranking of hydrological vulnerability using multi-criteria decision making techniques: Case study of Korea

Potential flood damage (PFD), potential streamflow depletion (PSD), potential water quality deterioration (PWQD), and watershed evaluation index (WEI) have been developed to spatially quantify the hydrological vulnerability using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques. All criteria are selected on the basis of a sustainability evaluation concept (pressure-state-response model), and their weights are estimated by an Analytic Hierarchy Process, which is also a type of MCDM technique. The MCDM techniques used for the evaluation are composite programming, compromise programming, ELECTRE II, Regime method, and Evamix method; these techniques can be classified according to data availability and objectives (prefeasibility and feasibility). Furthermore, the WEI is improved to reflect the preferences of the residents with regard to management objectives through weights (of PFD, PSD, and PWQD) obtained from questionaires of residents. Finally, this study derives a procedure to identify the spatial investment prioritization using four indices.