Developing a fuzzy integrated index to assess the value of water resources using quantity, quality, and socioeconomic parameters (case study: Mashhad plain)

Water scarcity is becoming a crisis and a significant threat to economic and agricultural development. In order to achieve long-term sustainability, it is suggested that local government should concentrate on evaluating the water resources' value with a combination of ecological, financial, and societal aspects. Hence, this paper's purpose is to devise an all-encompassing approach for evaluating the value of water resources, thereby providing a robust framework for their assessment. Firstly, a water quality, water quantity, and socioeconomic evaluation indicator system are established for Mashhad plain from 2016 to 2018. Subsequently, a fuzzy index was developed to measure the interrelationships and connections among natural, economic, and social systems, thereby enabling the determination of the value associated with water resources. This study's innovation is that each factor influencing this value was appraised utilizing the fuzzy approach. The water quality index shows poor to very poor fuzzy quality of water in all three years. Also, the water quantity index results show that variable's critical range. Also, based on the fuzzy water quantity index, the water quantity of Mashhad plain is in the critical range. The socioeconomic status assessment model results also showed that the Mashhad plain area has a good to moderate socioeconomic status. The statistics revealed that the valuation of water resources in the Mashhad plain exhibited values of 0.391, 0.399, and 0.416 during the years 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.