Use of AHP Method in Efficiency Analysis of Existing Water Treatment Plants

The trend of urbanization in India is exerting stress on civic authorities to provide safe drinking water. It is very much necessary to evaluate the performance of the existing water treatment plant from time to time for the better understanding of design and operating difficulties in these water treatment plants. In this research work the aim is to set up the performance evaluation system for the existing water treatment plant. The conventional water treatment plants (WTPs) are designed using rule-of-thumb approaches developed with years of experience. The present study gives introduction to a Comprehensive Performance Evaluation (CPE) Technique to implement performance assessment of WTPs, by identifying performance indicators and corresponding evaluation items. A detailed list of such performance parameters has been prepared. An Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to assign relative weightages to these performance parameters and their major evaluation items. The case study for the Kotarpur WTP at Ahmedabad has been presented here. The operation of the water treatment plant is a dynamic process. The performance of each treatment unit affects the efficiency of the subsequent units. Since most of the WTPs operate using rule-of-thumb approaches it becomes extremely important to carry out an efficiency analysis process based on several performance indicators. Such performance parameters have different impacts on the quality and efficiency of the processes. It becomes very difficult to decide the approximate importance of each of the parameters, if applied on ad-hoc basis. The method like Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) involves the views and feedback of the experts and technical personnel looking after the execution of the WTP. There are usually many solutions proposed for each problem. Each of them would entail certain outcomes that are more or less desirable, more or less certain, in the short or long term, and would require different amounts and kinds of resources. There is a need to set priorities on these solutions according to their effectiveness by considering their benefits, costs, risks, and opportunities, and the resources they need. In the following study, an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to assign relative weightages to the performance parameters and their major evaluation items. The case study for the Kotarpur WTP at Ahmedabad has been presented here.