Comparison of different methods of MCDM to assess GWQ suitability for different purposes: Case study of Al-Hamdania Area
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35208/ert.1535382Keywords:
GWQ, MCDM, SDI, NSF, PROMETHEE II, ELECTRE III, SCAbstract
This research aims to compare different methods of Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) named SDI, PROMETHEE II, and ELECTRE III with the standard method NSFI to rank and score the Groundwater Quality (GWQ) of 26 wells in the Al-Hamdaniya area, Nineva governorate, Iraq, during 2019–2020. The final maps of each method and ranking of suitable areas for different uses of drinking, irrigation, and livestock are done by the GIS program with the help of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique, which is needed to extract the required weights of the variables. In order to check the results, a validation test named Similarity Coefficient (SC) is made between the methods to show their accuracy. For a general look, it was seen from the final maps that the eastern regions of the study area had good GWQ of all methods, and worsened further as we went to the west of the region The resulted maps showed that there are great convergence values between the SDI and the NSF methods, while both the PROMETHEE II and ELECTRE IV methods showed somewhat high divergence values with the NSF method. The used methods can be classified based on their convergence to the reference method NSF are as follows: SDI, PROMETHEE II and in the last is ELECTRE III.
Downloads
References
[1]. M. I. Silva, A. M. L. Gonçalves, Lopes, W. A., Lima, M. T. V., Costa, C. T. F., Paris, M., Firmino, P. R. A., & De Paula Filho, F. J., “Assessment of groundwater quality in a Brazilian semiarid basin using an integration of GIS, water quality index and multivariate statistical techniques,” Journal of Hydrology (Amst)., vol. 598, p. 126346, Jul. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126346.
[2]. A. Ram, S. K. Tiwari, H. K. Pandey, A. K. Chaurasia, S. Singh, and Y. V. Singh, “Groundwater quality assessment using water quality index (WQI) under GIS framework,” Applied Water Sciences, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 46, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.1007/s13201-021-01376-7.
[3]. N. R. Jamil and Z. N. Shehab, Landscape Perspective to River Pollution: A Case Study of Bentong River, Malaysia. In: Singh, A., Agrawal, M., Agrawal, S.B. (eds) Water Pollution and Management Practices. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_2. 2021. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_2.
[4]. N. Akhtar, M. I. S. Ishak, M. I. Ahmad, Umar, K., Md Yusuff, M. S., Anees, M. T., Qadir, A., & Ali Almanasir, Y. K. , “Modification of the Water Quality Index (WQI) Process for Simple Calculation Using the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) Method: A Review,” Water (Basel)., vol. 13, no. 7, p. 905, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.3390/w13070905.
[5]. Z. Y. Algamal, Z. N. Shehab, and R. M. Faisal, “Spatiotemporal variation analysis of Tigris River water quality in Mosul, Iraq during 2020–2023 based on environmetric techniques,” Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 84, no. 2, p. 69, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s12665-024-12086-z.
[6]. P. N. Rajankar, S. R. Gulhane, D. H. Tambekar, D. S. Ramteke, and S. R. Wate, “Water Quality Assessment of Groundwater Resources in Nagpur Region (India) Based on WQI,” Journal of Chemistry, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 905–908, Jan. 2009, doi: 10.1155/2009/971242.
[7]. S. Machona, G. Morara Ogendi, and B. S. Ahana, “Assessment of groundwater quality for drinking using the water quality index,” Water Quality Research Journal, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 151–163, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.2166/wqrj.2025.047.
[8]. N. Benouara, A. Laraba, and L. Hachemi Rachedi, “Assessment of groundwater quality in the Seraidi region (north-east of Algeria) using NSF-WQI,” Water Supply, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1132–1137, Aug. 2016, doi: 10.2166/ws.2016.030.
[9]. M. Dhanasekarapandian, S. Chandran, D. S. Devi, and V. Kumar, “Spatial and temporal variation of groundwater quality and its suitability for irrigation and drinking purpose using GIS and WQI in an urban fringe,” Journal of African Earth Sciences, vol. 124, pp. 270–288, Dec. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2016.08.015.
[10]. H. V. T. Minh, R. Avtar, G. Mohan, P. Misra, and M. Kurasaki, “Monitoring and Mapping of Rice Cropping Pattern in Flooding Area in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta Using Sentinel-1A Data: A Case of An Giang Province,” ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 211, May 2019, doi: 10.3390/ijgi8050211.
[11]. Kotayba. Al-Youzbakey and Ali Sulaiman, “Ground Water Quality of Selected Areas in the Northeastern Mosul City and their Assessments for Domestic and Agricultural Usage,” Iraqi National Journal of Earth Science (INJES), vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 107–126, Jun. 2020, doi: 10.33899/earth.2020.170350.
[12]. M. F. Ahmed and R. M. Faisal al-Moula, “GIS based modeling of GWQ assessment at Al-Shekhan area using AHP and SAW techniques,” Scientific Review Engineering and Environmental Sciences, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 172–183, 2020, doi: 10.22630/PNIKS.2020.29.2.15.
[13]. N. Gharahi and R. Zamani-Ahmadmahmoodi, “Evaluation of groundwater quality for drinking purposes: a case study from the Beheshtabad Basin, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran,” Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 79, no. 4, p. 82, Feb. 2020, doi: 10.1007/s12665-020-8816-9.
[14]. American Public Health Association, “Standard Method for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.”
[15]. Environmental Protection Agency, “2012 Guidelines for water reuse.”
[16]. Iraqi standard specifications, “ Standard methods for the examination and analysis of drinking water .”
[17]. WHO, “Guidelines for drinking-water quality, 4th edition.”
[18]. R. M. Faisal and Z. N. Shehab, “Integrating GIS and comparative multi-criteria decision-making techniques for landslide susceptibility assessment,” Progress in Physical Geography, 2025, doi: 10.1177/03091333251380439.
[19]. Z. N. Shehab and R. M. Faisal, “Harnessing wind for hydrogen: comparative MCDM-GIS assessment of optimal plant locations,” Journal of King Saud University – Engineering Sciences, vol. 37, no. 6, p. 30, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s44444-025-00025-7.
[20]. R. M. Faisal and Z. N. Shehab, “A Spatial Decision‐Support Approach to Identifying Optimal Sites for Rainwater Harvesting,” Transactions in GIS, vol. 30, no. 1, Feb. 2026, doi: 10.1111/tgis.70178.
[21]. R. M. Faisal and M. F. A. D. Ahmed, “GIS and AHP based modeling for landfill site selection (case study: West side of Mosul city),” 2018, Scientific Review Engineering and Environmental Sciences (SREES). doi: 10.22630/PNIKS.2018.27.4.41.
[22]. G. Polat, “Subcontractor selectıon usıng the ıntegratıon of the ahp and promrthee methods,” JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 1042–1054, Apr. 2015, doi: 10.3846/13923730.2014.948910.
[23]. S. A. Raji, A. O. Akintuyi, E. O. Wunude, and B. Fashoto, “Coupling MCDM-based ensemble and AHP for the sustainable management of erosion risk in a tropical Sub-Saharan basin,” Watershed Ecology and the Environment, vol. 5, pp. 186–208, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.wsee.2023.08.001.
[24]. N. A. V. Doan and Y. De Smet, “An alternative weight sensitivity analysis for PROMETHEE II rankings,” Omega (Westport)., vol. 80, pp. 166–174, Oct. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.omega.2017.08.017.
[25]. F. M. I. Flora, “An MCDM-GIS based site suitability analysis for solar power plant integration in Cameroon: Solar hybridization to optimize green electricity and hydrogen production,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Mar. 06, 2025, Elsevier Ltd. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2025.01.445.
[26]. J. Żak and M. Kruszyński, “Application of AHP and ELECTRE III/IV Methods to Multiple Level, Multiple Criteria Evaluation of Urban Transportation Projects,” Transportation Research Procedia, vol. 10, pp. 820–830, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.trpro.2015.09.035.
[27]. R. Lin, S. Lu, A. Yang, W. Shen, and J. Ren, “Multi-criteria sustainability assessment and decision-making framework for hydrogen pathways prioritization: An extended ELECTRE method under hybrid information,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 46, no. 24, pp. 13430–13445, Apr. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.01.018.
[28]. J. M. Sánchez-Lozano, M. S. García-Cascales, and M. T. Lamata, “Comparative TOPSIS-ELECTRE TRI methods for optimal sites for photovoltaic solar farms. Case study in Spain,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 127, pp. 387–398, Jul. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.005.
[29]. Y. Wu, J. Zhang, J. Yuan, S. Geng, and H. Zhang, “Study of decision framework of offshore wind power station site selection based on ELECTRE-III under intuitionistic fuzzy environment: A case of China,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 113, pp. 66–81, Apr. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.01.020.
[30]. F. Z. El Mazouri, M. C. Abounaima, K. Zenkouar, and A. El Hilali Alaoui, “Application of the ELECTRE III Method at the Moroccan Rural Electrification Program,” International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE), vol. 8, no. 5, p. 3285, Oct. 2018, doi: 10.11591/ijece.v8i5.pp3285-3295.
[31]. R. M. Faisal, “GIS and MCDMA prioritization based modeling for sub-watershed in Bastora river basin,” Geocarto International, 2021, doi: 10.1080/10106049.2021.1950848.
[32]. M. E. A. de Kraker, H. Sommer, F. de Velde, Gravestock, I., Weiss, E., McAleenan, A., Nikolakopoulos, S., Amit, O., Ashton, T., Beyersmann, J., Held, L., Lovering, A. M., MacGowan, A. P., Mouton, J. W., Timsit, J.-F., Wilson, D., Wolkewitz, M., Bettiol, E., Dane, A., & Harbarth, S., “Optimizing the Design and Analysis of Clinical Trials for Antibacterials Against Multidrug-resistant Organisms: A White Paper From COMBACTE’s STAT-Net,” Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 67, no. 12, pp. 1922–1931, Nov. 2018, doi: 10.1093/cid/ciy516.
[33]. Z. N. Shehab, A. F. Farhhan, and R. M. Faisal, “Spatial variation influence of landscape patterns on surface water quality across an urbanized watershed in Mosul city, Iraq,” Sustainable Water Resources Management, vol. 10, no. 5, p. 181, Oct. 2024, doi: 10.1007/s40899-024-01162-8.
[34]. Md. G. Uddin, S. Nash, and A. I. Olbert, “A review of water quality index models and their use for assessing surface water quality,” Ecological Indicators, vol. 122, p. 107218, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107218.
[35]. G. Y. Zaghloul, A. Y. Zaghloul, M. A. Hamed, K. M. El-Moselhy, and H. M. E. El-Din, “Water quality assessment for Northern Egyptian lakes (Bardawil, Manzala, and Burullus) using NSF-WQI Index,” Regional Studies in Marine Science, vol. 64, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.rsma.2023.103010.
[36]. Z. N. Shehab, Z. Yahya Algamal, and A. F. Farhhan, ‘Water Quality Assessment and Spatial-Temporal Variation Analysis in Tigris River, Mosul, Iraq During 2023-2024’, Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 3607–3626, 2025, https://doi.org/10.21608/ejabf.2025.440427.6955.
[37]. B. Konakoglu and S. S. Kurt Konakoglu, “Artificial Intelligence in Landslide Susceptibility: A Bibliometric Analysis,” Transactions in GIS, vol. 29, no. 5, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.1111/tgis.70099.
[38]. S. Parween, N. A. Siddique, M. T. Mahammad Diganta, A. I. Olbert, and M. G. Uddin, “Assessment of urban river water quality using modified NSF water quality index model at Siliguri city, West Bengal, India,” Environmental and Sustainability Indicators, vol. 16, Dec. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.indic.2022.100202.
[39]. R. Zhu, Y. Hu, K. Janowicz, and G. McKenzie, “Spatial signatures for geographic feature types: examining gazetteer ontologies using spatial statistics,” Transactions in GIS, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 333–355, Jun. 2016, doi: 10.1111/tgis.12232.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Environmental Research and Technology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles in Environmental Research and Technology (ERT) are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
This license allows others to copy, distribute, and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes only, provided that proper credit is given to the original authors and to the journal.
