TITLE:
Water Cycle and Irrigation Expansion: An Application of Multi-Criteria Evaluation in the Limestone Coast (Australia)
AUTHORS:
Zahra Paydar, Yun Chen
KEYWORDS:
Land Suitability, Regional Water Balance, Irrigation Expansion, Multi-Criteria Evaluation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.6 No.7,
May
22,
2014
ABSTRACT: A summary
of the current understanding of the hydrological system in the Limestone Coast
in Australia is presented. The regional water balance analysis indicated about
90% of the water is lost through evapotranspiration. Irrigation consumes a
substantial part of the groundwater and returns up to half of the water inflow
to the aquifer. A multi-criteria analysis using fuzzy quantifiers and
analytical hierarchy process was applied for future irrigation expansion. The
results showed a total of 94,632 ha of land, considered suitable for irrigation
where groundwater is not over-allocated or over used. This model showed some
advantages over the conventional multi-criteria evaluation methods as it avoids
arbitrary decisions on criteria weightings.