Single Criterion and Multiple Criteria Analysis: A Comparison of Water Quality Monitoring Designs for a River System

The design of a water quality monitoring network is of critical importance to watershed management. By employing both a single criterion analysis and a multiple criteria analysis, this study assessed and compared water quality monitoring designs for a river system in the Taipei Water Resource Domain (TWRD), a major water resource protected area in northern Taiwan. The case area for this work was divided into 22 sub-basins; and each sub-basin was generally based upon a river network. With a single criterion analysis, inputting different individual variables produced significantly different results. Thus, the sub-basins seen to have a greater need for a water quality monitoring system varied greatly. This study, further, observed that a multiple criteria analysis is more objective than a single criterion analysis. When considering multiple factors, this report utilized seven criteria, the top five sub-basins with a greater necessity for improved water quality monitoring records are, in order, Sub-basins 2, 5, 21, 20, and 7. This indicates that the need for a water quality monitoring system in the Sin-Dian Creek Basin and in the Bei-Shih Creek Basin is greater than that in the Nan-Shih Creek Basin. This result is a useful reference for the creation of an improved water quality management strategy in the TWRD. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014