Hydrometeorological-Hydrometric Station Network Design Using Multicriteria Decision Analysis and GIS Techniques

The design of an optimum hydrometeorological and hydrometric station network constitutes a key factor for the collection of comprehensive and reliable hydrometeorological and flow data that are necessary both for decision making in water resources policy and management, and for the hydrometeorological risk assessment. This article describes a methodology developed in a geographic information system (GIS) using a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) approach, which combines several spatial criteria to propose suitable locations for installation of such a station network in the Sarantapotamos River Basin in the western part of the Attica Region, Greece. Through the design of two networks that meet different requirements, various aspects concerning this methodology are illustrated, such as criteria weights determination, which is a problem that arises frequently in many MCDM techniques. The criteria weights for the hydrometric station network design are estimated using both the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), while, for hydrometeorological station network design, all weights are equal. Hydrometeorological station final position selection is achieved by introducing the criteria of density and spatial distribution to the suitable locations. For hydrometric station network design, the analysis indicates that the criterion of slope mainly controls the MCDM outputs. According to station density thresholds proposed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an optimum hydrometeorological and hydrometric station network for the region should comprise three and two stations, respectively.