Expert-guided multicriteria decision-making for mitigating land subsidence caused by groundwater overexploitation

02.Oct.2025

Land subsidence poses significant problems in regions facing water management challenges, primarily resulting from unsustainable groundwater abstraction that causes significant drops in piezometric levels. Recognizing the urgent need for effective mitigation measures against land subsidence, this study developed a multicriteria decision-making model on the basis of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate ten mitigation alternatives. Expert opinions were gathered through structured surveys in four Mediterranean areas: the coastal aquifer of Comacchio (Italy), the Alto Guadalentín aquifer (Spain), the Sarıgöl-Alaşehir aquifer in the Gediz River Basin (Türkiye), and the Azraq Wetland Reserve (Jordan). Quantitatively, results of the AHP analysis consistently ranked two alternatives (enhancing water use efficiency and strengthening legal control over groundwater abstraction) as the most preferred to …​​