A multi-criteria decision-making approach for desalination plant site selection: environmental, social and economic aspects in Morocco

Purpose The selection of a site location for seawater desalination is a challenging endeavor, as it involves multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) and the need for sophisticated computational tools to facilitate the identification of effective and efficient solutions. This study aims to systematically identify and rank the environmental, social and economic criteria and subcriteria that are taken into account during the site selection process for desalination plants (DPs) in Morocco. Design/methodology/approach Through an in-depth literature review inherent to DP site selection, environmental, social and economic criteria and subcriteria were identified and then presented to a group of experts to validate them in the Moroccan context. Finally, an Analytical Hierarchy Process analysis was conducted to rank the criteria and subcriteria. Findings The findings of the present study underscore the significance of environmental and social criteria in the selection of Moroccan DP sites. The environmental criteria were found to be the foremost consideration, accounting for 38.1% of the total, followed by the social criteria, which constituted 33.7%. The economic criteria ranked third, with an aggregated weight of 28.2%. Similarly, wastewater discharge (26.5%), epidemic disease (32.5%) and overhead costs (31.8%) emerged as the top-ranked subcriteria within the environmental, social and economic dimensions, respectively. Research limitations/implications The use of additional MCDM tools could facilitate a more robust comparison of outcomes and enhance the reliability of the results obtained. Examples of such tools include the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation. The findings of this study contribute to the limited existing literature on the subject of DP sustainability impacts in Morocco. In addition, they offer valuable insights for decision-makers involved in the implementation of DPs. These insights relate to the most pertinent environmental, social and economic subcriteria that should be considered during the decision-making process regarding the location of Moroccan DPs. Originality/value To our knowledge, this study is the first to identify and rank sustainable DP criteria and subcriteria in Morocco through the analytical hierarchy process method.