Skip to main content
Log in

A Framework to Prioritize the Public Expectations from Water Treatment Plants based on Trapezoidal Type-2 Fuzzy Ahp Method

Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Water treatment plants play a major role in the cycle of water recovery and reuse. Besides the benefits of water treatment plants, they have a great impact on the environment, social life, economy, and natural habitats. In this sense, decision-makers should effectively plan the construction and operational activities of plants, taking into account the expectations of users. Growing public expectations about water treatment plants increase the pressures on investors and government managers. In this study, we focus on defining and determining the weights of public expectations from water treatment plants and handle as a multi-criteria decision-making problem. A two-level hierarchical model is structured to evaluate public expectations from water treatment plants as model criteria. For the problem, a literature review is performed to search the main criteria. The most suitable criteria for the problem are determined using experts’ opinions. Then, the sub-criteria are determined. Experts’ evaluations are collected by face to face interviews. These evaluations are consolidated and finalized via the modified Delphi method. Trapezoidal Type-2 Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (T2F-AHP) is employed to determine criteria weights using results obtained by the modified Delphi method. A sensitivity analysis is performed to show the reliability of the proposed methodology. A comparison is also performed between the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the proposed methodology. The results of this study can be used as a guide to develop public strategies about water treatment plants. Finally, conclusions and future directions of this work are given.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams R (2013) Active queue management: a survey. IEEE Commun Surv Tutor 15(3):1425–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Akhoundi A, Nazif S (2018) Sustainability assessment of wastewater reuse alternatives using the evidential reasoning approach. J Clean Prod 195:1350–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Alegoz M, Yapicioglu H (2019) Supplier selection and order allocation decisions under quantity discount and fast service options. Sustain Prod Consum 18:179–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Anane M, Bouziri L, Limam A, Jellali S (2012) Ranking suitable sites for irrigation with reclaimed water in the Nabeul-hammamet region (Tunisia) using GIS and AHP-multicriteria decision analysis. Resour, Conserv Recycling 65:36–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Aragonés-Beltrán P, Pastor-Ferrando JP, García-García F, Pascual-Agulló A (2010) An analytic network process approach for siting a municipal solid waste plant in the metropolitan area of Valencia (Spain). J Environ Manag 91(5):1071–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Atanassov KT (1999) Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets. in. Physica, Heidelberg, pp 1–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayyildiz E, Gumus AT (2020) A novel spherical fuzzy AHP-integrated spherical WASPAS methodology for petrol station location selection problem: a real case study for İstanbul. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(29):36109–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayyildiz E, Gumus AT, Erkan M (2020) Individual credit ranking by an integrated interval type-2 trapezoidal fuzzy electre methodology. Soft Comp. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-020-04929-1

  • Banai-Kashani R (1989) A new method for site suitability analysis: the analytic hierarchy process. Environ Manag 13(6):685–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Boix M, Montastruc L, Pibouleau L, Azzaro-Pantel C, Domenech. S (2011) A multiobjective optimization framework for multicontaminant industrial water network design. J Environ Manag 92(7):1802–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonissone PP, Decker KS (1986) Selecting uncertainty calculi and granularity: an experiment in trading-off precision and complexity. In: Machine Intelligence and Pattern Recognition, vol. 4. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp 217–247

  • Bottero M, Comino E, Riggio V (2011) Application of the analytic hierarchy process and the analytic network process for the assessment of different wastewater treatment systems. Environ Model Softw 26(10):1211–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley JJ (1985) Fuzzy hierarchical analysis. Fuzzy Sets Syst 17(3):233–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Celik E, Akyuz E (2018) An interval type-2 fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS methods for decision-making problems in maritime transportation engineering: the case of ship loader. Ocean Eng 155:371–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Celik E, Aydin N, Gumus AT (2014) A multiattribute customer satisfaction evaluation approach for rail transit network: a real case study for Istanbul, Turkey. Transp Policy 36:283–93

    Google Scholar 

  • Celik E, Gumus AT (2016) An outranking approach based on interval type-2 fuzzy sets to evaluate preparedness and response ability of non-governmental humanitarian relief organizations. Comp Ind Eng 101:21–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Celik E, Gumus AT (2018) An assessment approach for non-governmental organizations in humanitarian relief logistics and an application in Turkey. Technol Econ Dev Econ 24(1):1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang CW, Wu CR, Chen HC (2008) Using expert technology to select unstable slicing machine to control wafer slicing quality via fuzzy AHP. Expert Syst Appl 34(3):2210–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury S, Majumder M, Saha AK (2017) An optimization model using the standard deviation method and multiple decision making statistics in water treatment plants in Northeastern India. Asian J Water, Environ Pollut 14(3):27–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury S, Saha AK, Majumder M (2018) Recognising the risk factors of water treatment plants using a hybrid MCDM method. Environ Policy Law 48(1):74–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Choudhury S, Saha AK, Majumder M (2020) Optimal location selection for installation of surface water treatment plant by gini coefficient-based analytical hierarchy process. Environ Dev Sustain 22(5):4073–99

    Google Scholar 

  • Dadone P, Vanlandingham HF (2002) Load transfer control for a gantry crane with arbitrary delay constraints. J Vib Control 8(2):135–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • De P, Majumder M (2017) Monitoring water input quality: early screening and system support through the application of an adapted multiple criteria decision making method. Desalination Water Treat 82:44–56

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Debnath A, Majumder M, Pal M (2016) Potential of Fuzzy-ELECTRE MCDM in evaluation of cyanobacterial toxins removal methods. Arab J Sci Eng 41(10):3931–44

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ecer F (2020) Multi-criteria decision making for green supplier selection using interval type-2 fuzzy AHP: a case study of a home appliance manufacturer. Oper Res. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-020-00552-y.

  • Gumus AT (2009) Evaluation of hazardous waste transportation firms by using a two step fuzzy-AHP and TOPSIS methodology. Expert Syst Appl 36(2 PART 2):4067–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Gündoǧdu FK, Kahraman C (2019) Spherical fuzzy sets and spherical fuzzy TOPSIS method. J Intell Fuzzy Syst 36(1):337–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadipour A, Rajaee T, Hadipour V, Seidirad S (2016) Multi-criteria decision-making model for wastewater reuse application: a case study from Iran. Desalination Water Treat 57(30):13857–64

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hailu Y, Tilahun E, Brhane A, Resky H, Sahu O (2019) Ion exchanges process for calcium, magnesium and total hardness from ground water with natural zeolite. Groundw Sustain Dev 8:457–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Hakanen J, Aittokoski T (2010) Comparison of MCDM and EMO approaches in wastewater treatment plant design. Lecture notes in computer science (including subseries lecture notes in artificial intelligence and lecture notes in bioinformatics). vol. 5467. LNCS. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 350–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartman A (1981) Reaching consensus using the delphi technique. Educ Leadersh 38(6):495–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu PF, Cheng RW, Li YT (2008) Selection of infectious medical waste disposal firms by using the analytic hierarchy process and sensitivity analysis. Waste Manag 28(8):1386–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Ilangkumaran M, Sakthivel G, Sasirekha V (2014) “Waste water treatment technology selection using FAHP and GRA approaches.”. Int J Environ Waste Manag 14(4):392–413

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kahraman C, Sari I, Turanoğlu E (2012) Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process with type-2 fuzzy sets. In: Proceedings of the 10th International FLINS Conference on Uncertainty modeling in knowledge engineering and decision making. pp 201–212. Istanbul

  • Kalbar PP, Karmakar S, Asolekar SR (2013) The influence of expert opinions on the selection of wastewater treatment alternatives: a group decision-making approach. J Environ Manag 128:844–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim Y, Chung ES, Jun SM, Kim SU (2013) Prioritizing the best sites for treated wastewater instream use in an urban watershed using fuzzy TOPSIS. Resour, Conserv Recycling 73:23–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Lebrero R, Bouchy L, Stuetz R, Muǹoz R (2011) Odor assessment and management in wastewater treatment plants: a review. Crit Rev Environ Sci Technol 41(10):915–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Mardle S, Pascoe S, Herrero I (2004) Management objective importance in fisheries: an evaluation using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Environ Manag 33(1):1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • McCallum S, Viviers S (2020) Private sector impact investment in water purification infrastructure in south africa: a qualitative analysis of opportunities and barriers. Water SA 46(1):44–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Meng F, Fu G, Butler D (2016) Water quality permitting: from end-of-pipe to operational strategies. Water Res 101:114–26

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murry JW, Hammons JO (1995) Delphi: a versatile methodology for conducting qualitative research. Rev High Educ 18(4):423–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Nayeb H, Torabian A, Mehrdadi N (2014) Selecting the optimal urban wastewater treatment process in the various climates by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). J Environ Stud 40(3(71)):48–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Njuangang S, Liyanage C, Akintoye A (2017) Application of the delphi technique in healthcare maintenance. Int J Health Care Qual Assur 30(8):737–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Padrón-Páez JI, De León Almaraz S, Román-Martínez A (2020) Sustainable wastewater treatment plants design through multiobjective optimization. Comp Chem Eng 140:1–16

  • Robbins SP (1994) Management. Prentice hall, New Jersey

  • Rodriguez DJ, Van den Berg C, McMahon A (2012) A investing in water infrastructure: capital, operations and maintenance. Water Papers, Water Partnership Program, World Bank, Washington

  • Saaty TL (1977) A scaling method for priorities in hierarchical structures. J Math Psychol 15(3):234–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadiq R, Husain T, Veitch B, Bose N (2003) Evaluation of generic types of drilling fluid using a risk-based analytic hierarchy process. Environ Manag 32(6):778–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Sari IU, Behret H, Kahraman C (2012) Risk governance of urban rail systems using fuzzy AHP: the case of Istanbul. Int J Uncertain Fuzziness Knowl-Based Syst 20:67–79

  • Skoczko I, Oszczapińska K (2019) The choice of location for a community water treatment plant using the AHP method. Ekonomia i Srodowisko 68:166–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Smarandache F (1999) A unifying field in logics: neutrosophic logic. American Research Press, Rehoboth

  • Srdjevic Z, Lakicevic M, Srdjevic B (2013) Approach of decision making based on the analytic hierarchy process for urban landscape management. Environ Manag 51(3):777–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuetz R, Frechen FB (2015) Odours in wastewater treatment-measurement, modelling and control. Water Intell Online 4(0):9781780402932–9781780402932

    Google Scholar 

  • Torra V (2010) Hesitant fuzzy sets. Int J Intell Syst 25(6):n/a–n/a

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang JQ, Peng JJ, Zhang HY, Liu T, Chen XH (2015) An uncertain linguistic multi-criteria group decision-making method based on a cloud model. Group Decis Negotiation 24(1):171–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Witherspoon J, Easter C, Voigt R, Gupta K, McGrath M (2012) An odor control master planning approach to public outreach programs. Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation 2006(3):407–27

  • Wu JY, Van Brunt V, Zhang WR, Bezdek JC (1988) Tower packing evaluation using linguistic variables. Comp Math Appl 15(10):863–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Yager RR (2014) Pythagorean membership grades in multicriteria decision making. IEEE Trans Fuzzy Syst 22(4):958–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Yildiz A, Ayyildiz E, Gumus AT, Ozkan C (2020) A modified balanced scorecard based hybrid pythagorean fuzzy AHP-topsis methodology for ATM site selection problem. Int J Inf Technol Decis Mak 19(02):365–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz MK, Kusakci AO, Tatoglu E, Icten O, Yetgin F (2019) Performance evaluation of real estate investment trusts using a hybridized interval Type-2 Fuzzy AHP-DEA approach: the case of borsa Istanbul. Int J Inf Technol Decis Mak 18(6):1785–1820

    Google Scholar 

  • Yılmaz H, Kabak Ö (2020) Prioritizing distribution centers in humanitarian logistics using type-2 fuzzy MCDM approach. J Enterprise Inf Manag. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-09-2019-0310

  • Zadeh LA (1965) Fuzzy sets. Inf Control 8(3):338–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Zadeh LA (1975) The concept of a linguistic variable and its application to approximate reasoning-I. Inf Sci 8(3):199–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Vasiljević Z, Tamara, Srdjević Z, Bajčetić R, Miloradov MV (2012) GIS and the analytic hierarchy process for regional landfill site selection in transitional countries: a case study from Serbia. Environ Manag 49(2):445–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Zewdie M, Worku H, Bantider A (2018) Temporal dynamics of the driving factors of urban landscape change of addis ababa during the past three decades. Environ Manag 61(1):132–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X, Huang J, Lin L, Wang Y, Zhang X (2019) Operation performance evaluation of municipal wastewater treatment plant by analytic hierarchy process. IOP Conf Ser: Mater Sci Eng 484:012037

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Z, Wen J, Wang X, Zhao C (2018) A novel crowd evaluation method for security and trustworthiness of online social networks platforms based on signaling theory. J Comput Sci 26:468–77

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ertugrul Ayyildiz.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yildiz, A., Ayyildiz, E., Taskin Gumus, A. et al. A Framework to Prioritize the Public Expectations from Water Treatment Plants based on Trapezoidal Type-2 Fuzzy Ahp Method. Environmental Management 67, 439–448 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01367-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01367-5

Keywords

Navigation