Multicriteria evaluation of irrigation canal lining variants

This paper illustrates the usability of analytical hierarchy process in problems when there is no strictly optimal solution which satisfies all the criteria. AHP is applied on a real case example of evaluation of different variants of Kula-Mali Idjos irrigation canal lining. In order to identify the most convenient variant of canal lining, four alternative variants were evaluated (earth lining, PVC canal lining, in situ concrete canal lining, concrete panel lining) across the four criteria (water loss, costs of construction, costs of maintenance and ecological effects). Given results, obtained using the real data, indicates that PVC canal lining should be considered as best Kula-Mali Idjos canal lining option.