Environmental quality assessment of a few selected stretches in a river basin using multi criteria approaches

Abstract

The contemporary problems of population explosion, rapid transformation of the newlineobjectives in economic development strategies irrational utilization of finite energy newlineresources and unprecedented instances of rapid urbanization are challenging the very newlineframe work of environmental quality and sustainability. The obvious consequences of newlinesuch unrestrained and uninhibited exploitation of the environmental resources have newlinereflected in a significant increase in the degradation of our immediate and surrounding newlineenvirons, as manifested in poverty, environmental pollution, proliferation of slumps and newlinesquatters, inadequate waste management and impure water supply, vehicular pollution, newlineincrease in traffic jams, road accidents etc. Though, human awareness has been newlineincreasing on the pivotal necessities of understanding and undertaking crucial changes in newlinethe perspective of environmental exploitation to suit our needs, a considerable effort still newlineremains to be endorsed to identify and establish holistic indices of environmental quality newlineand its immediate future remedial policy appropriate to regional preference and newlineacceptance. To this end, the present study involves a conscious effort to establish the newlinedesired indices of environmental quality through a robust analytical and perception newlinestudy endeavour thus help to establish a pro-active platform of decision making to newlineenvision a pragmatic and fruitful recourse to uphold the sanctity of our environment. newlineThis study has made an attempt to identify the major issues of the environmental quality newlinedemanding priority in the selected study areas, subsequent to which unique fuzzy newlinemultiple-attribute decision support platforms have been proposed for an integrated quality newlineassessment of the environmental attributes under study. The decision support system has newlinebeen developed by combining the principles of Multi-Attribute Decision Making newlineAnalysis and fuzzy set theory in order to reflect the spatial distribution characteristic of newlinethe environmental quality and to address the inherent uncertainty associate