Carpitella, S., Del Olmo, G., Izquierdo, J. et al. (3 more authors) (2020) Decision-making tools to manage the microbiology of drinking water distribution systems. Water, 12 (5). 1247. ISSN 2073-4441
Abstract
This paper uses a two-fold multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach applied for the first time to the field of microbial management of drinking water distribution systems (DWDS). Specifically, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) was applied removing the need for reliance on expert judgement, and analysed interdependencies among water quality parameters and microbiological characteristics of DWDS composed of different pipe materials. In addition, the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) ranked the most common bacteria identified during trials in a DWDS according to their relative abundance while managing vagueness affecting the measurements. The novel integrated approach presented and proven here for an initial real world data set provides new insights in the interdependence of environmental conditions and microbial populations. Specifically, the application shows as the bacteria having associated the most significant microbial impact may not be the most abundant. This offers the potential for integrated management strategies to promote favourable microbial conditions to help safeguard drinking water quality.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | drinking water distribution systems; water quality monitoring; microbiological assessment; multi-criteria system analysis; DEMATEL; FTOPSIS |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/N02950X/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jun 2020 16:22 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jun 2020 16:22 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/w12051247 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:161519 |