Indicators and a Neuro-Fuzzy Based Model for the Evaluation of Water Supply Sustainability

In the field of water management, the evaluation of sustainability has no universal methodological approach nor any consensus regarding the definitions of sustainability or sustainable development. There is an essential need therefore for a precise definition of sustainability in different water management fields. This paper deals with the sustainability of one part of urban water management, namely a water supply. A precise definition of a sustainable water supply system is given, together with a methodological framework that quantifies the degree of water supply sustainability. The proposed framework relies on the proposed quasi-strong sustainability concept, its components (dimensions), their particular relationships and corresponding indicators representing individual processes in the water supply system and utility. The processing of indicators is performed through a joint fuzzy logic/neural network (ANFIS) model. In order to evaluate each sustainability component, separate ANFIS models were created whose results were aggregated into a single result (sustainability index). According to the presented framework, sustainability is evaluated for 17 public water supply systems/utilities in Croatia.