Evaluation of desalination and other strategic management options using multi-criteria decision analysis in Kuwait Amjad Aliewi ⁎, Essam El-Sayed, Adnan Akbar, Khaled Hadi, Muhammad Al-Rashed Water Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait abstract article info Article history: Received 21 November 2016 Received in revised form 25 January 2017 Accepted 2 March 2017 Available online xxxx Water is essential to life sustainability and the development of industry and agriculture in Kuwait. Kuwait is faced with water shortages, because of the scarcity of the natural water resources; well-developed supply infrastruc- ture; and the practice of expanding irrigated agriculture and industrialization. This paper describes how to eval- uate different management options and policies on the strategic level that can lead to secure and sustainable water resources management in the future for all water users in Kuwait. Possible interventions/management op- tions are identified and evaluated using a decision- support tool based on a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methodology. This paper is the first of its kind to use trade-off between different management options and strategic policies in Kuwait. The results showed that desalination using renewable energy technologies was ranked highly, despite its economic cost and environmental impact but there is also a need to implement widely other options. Wastewater Reuse for agriculture was ranked first overall in the MCDA. Most brackish water sup- ply to the agricultural sector should be replaced by treated wastewater. Other options such as virtual water, water demand management and changes in agricultural policies should be prioritized because of their socio-economic and environmental benefits. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Multi-criteria decision-analysis Strategic water policies Water resources sustainable management Management options 1. Introduction Ensuring the availability of reliable water resources and the use of good quality water without threatening the public health in Kuwait has become a critical issue. Kuwait is faced with water shortages, be- cause of the scarcity of natural water resources, population growth, higher standards of living, lack of well-developed supply infrastructure, and practice of expanding irrigated agriculture and industrialization without a proper link between livelihood and water security. In addition to that the nonconventional water resources in Kuwait are fragile and expensive. In countries like Kuwait water resources sustainability and security are interrelated and the main concern for socio-economic de- velopment. Both water sustainability and security are about providing viable access to sufficient quantities of tolerable quality water for sus- taining livelihoods and socioeconomic development while ensuring protection against pollution and preserving ecosystems [1]. In this paper, the emphasis is on how to develop and evaluate suitable policies and management options in response to the economic, environmental, financial, and cultural conditions in Kuwait in order to secure water sup- plies for the future and achieve sustainable water resources management. Water shortages, if not met in a timely and sustainable manner, will inevitably have serious adverse effects on socioeconomic and commer- cial development [2]. Water sustainability is essential to the population of Kuwait for its people to live in a healthy and productive manner while maintaining the natural environment [3]. Water plays a fundamental role in the security of food and energy as well as in economic growth, maintaining health, and reducing poverty. The challenges of water sus- tainability in Kuwait were addressed by Al-Otaibi and Kotwicki [4]; and Al-Qunaibet and Johnston [5]. Kuwait is ranked among the world's highest consumers of domestic water, with per capita water use well above international standards [6,7]. There is an ever increasing demand for brackish groundwater for oil processing/injection into oil fields to maintain reservoir pressure. The sustainable exploitation of brackish groundwater has become recently an issue in Kuwait [8]. The rapid in- crease in oil field-produced polluted water caused by the maturity of oil production wells has become a major disposal/pollution problem threatening the groundwater environment in in the country. Sustain- ability of oil production, including enhanced oil recovery, poses new challenges, as ever larger quantities of processed water will be needed, and more polluted oil-field water will be produced [9]. In Kuwait, water produced from desalination plants is pumped to blending stations, to underground reservoirs, and then to networks and elevated towers as an efficient means of maximizing the benefits from desalinated water [10]. However, this imposes a heavy fiscal burden of water subsidies that is presently 5.9% of the oil export revenues and 2.4% of Kuwait's Desalination 413 (2017) 40–51 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: aaliewi@kisr.edu.kw (A. Aliewi). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.03.006 0011-9164/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Desalination journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal