Process of application of multi criteria decision making models in prioritizing of water development projects of rural areas in the Khuzestan province

In recent years, more attention has been drawn to decision-making science in the academic community of the country and relatively comprehensive research has been carried out in accordance with choosing the preferred option in the fields of industry, commerce and trade, mining etc. However, in the field of water resources development projects and the need for applying scientific techniques to decide on the choice of the most suitable and most economical option for the start of operations, a thorough investigation has not been done. In the process of development of water resources, farmers are considered as investor and if an inappropriate choice is selected, it may have negative consequences resulting from the implementation the project and it can be more than its positive effects and will led to many social and political problems. Moreover it is very important to prioritize national and regional projects due to limitation of financial resources and the return on investment. There are unfinished projects in the country and the inability to provide the necessary funds for the completion of these projects has led to the prioritization of projects become more important than before. In this regards using a scientific decision making method in the level of provinces and even country is necessary. In this paper by investigating the situation of irrigation and drainage projects and public participation under the scope of water and power of the Khuzestan province, the desired indices of authorities and farmers were defined. then by using “SAW” and “WPM” methods, the rank of each project was calculated and according to this ranking, the priority of implementation of each project of the organization were determined.