Avaliação multicriterial e multidecisória no gerenciamento da demanda urbana de água.

Abstract

This dissertation presents a methodology for evaluation of alternatives for urban water demand management, with focus on multiple criteria and multiple decision makers. The decision group - the participants in the management process - was formed based on some Basin Committees already implemented in Brazil, including representatives of the following societal groups: government, users and civil society. The decision-makers opinions was obtained through interviews, using a questionnaire, when each decision maker evaluated 13 demand-management alternatives, under 5 criteria, and also expressed the degree of desirability of implementation of each alternative, the global evaluation. Both the criteria and the global evaluation were formulated in linguistic categories, inspired in Fuzzy Logic, in which the decision-maker defined the evaluation, with weighting among the categories, i f desirable. After concluding the interviews, an analysis of the decision-makers behaviour towards the alternatives was performed, individually, within groups and between groups, selecting the more desirable alternatives for the city. From the decision-makers opinions, expressed in the interviews, a multicriteria Fuzzy Logic based model was developed and implemented, for representing the decision-makers behaviour. The model can be used, then, by the analyst, by the management institutional body, or by the basin committee, to simulate the behaviour of the decision group when facing new management alternatives similar to those studied in this research. The methodology of analysis and the model were applied to the case of Campina Grande, in the State of Paraiba, Brazil.