Criteria for selection of technology to exploit groundwater in water scare area in Vietnam

The solutions for water extraction in the high mountains of the North commonly used are rainwater storage, dug wells, drilled wells, springs, and hanging lakes, etc. These solutions have basically met the water needs of the people. However, many water supply works operate inefficiently and operate inflexibly. In this study, 19 criteria belonging to 4 groups: a group of criteria on water resources; a group of criteria on economic and technical; a group of criteria on the social and a group of criteria on the environment have been established to select technologies for exploiting water sources suitable for high mountains and water scarcity to ensure long-term and efficient operation of the project. GIS approach was used, and criteria were integrated using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method (Saaty, 1980) to select suitable water resources extraction technology with high mountains and water scarcity. The research results show that the evaluation criteria to determine the area to apply technological solutions for sustainable exploitation of suitable water sources and the weights of the established criteria ensure a consistent ratio (CR< 10%) according to the hierarchical analysis method.