Determining suitable locations for small dams using analytical hierarchy process and geographical information systems (Case study: Kermanshah Province)

High level of erosion، water deficiency and low soil moisture، are considered as limiting factors in recovery and reform of semi-arid rangeland areas. Considering the problem of erosion، water deficiency and low soil moisture in lands discussed، small dams'' projects can be one of suitable strategies to compensate for increasing the groundwater resources in such areas. On the other hand، considering several criteria that must be considered in this selection، it is difficult to choose the appropriate locations to execute projects such as Small Dams. These factors include Technical and Social-Economical criterias. In this study، in order to locate suitable areas for building small dams، Analytical Hierarchy Process has been used in three stages. Meykhoran region in Kermanshah Province was considered to do this research. The first stage involves determining hierarchical levels consisting of object، criterias، Subcriterias، and factors. During the second stage، standardization of criterias on the basis of Fuzzy Logic، weighting criterias and Subcriterias based on Analytical Hierarchy Process، and paired comparisons of criterias and subcriterias with preference values of one to nine with incompatibility rate of less than one tenth were done in ARC-GIS software environment by using AHP subprogram. In the final step، after integration of these layers، the final maps of optimal sites for building small dams were prepared. Using this template to locate other natural resources projects will help to optimize using data، saves time، and decrease costs.