## 4 Results
### Review Papers and Application Fields
#### 4.6.3 MCDA and Water Management  
Water management is the process of allocating water supply to meet the diverse needs of water users. It has an impact on the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural characteristics of an ecosystem, and determines the distribution of water resources to various applications [104]. Water management is often a multi-objective issue, involving conflicts and stakeholder participation. Therefore, MCDA methods are suitable for decision-making, and they often enhance transparency and accountability in decision-making processes that would otherwise be unclear in their motivations and logic [103].  
[PERSON] et al. [109] investigated the use of MCDA in urban water management and acknowledged its potential. However, they also highlighted important drawbacks, such as the need for a greater emphasis on the problem structuring process to avoid errors. Additionally, they indicated that it is crucial to develop a guide for selecting the most appropriate MCDA method for each problem related to urban water management, as it is a rapidly evolving field that has the potential to promote more sustainable urban water management practices. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [108] reviewed hygiene publications related to water management and found an increase in both theoretical developments and real-world applications of MCDA methods. It was argued that MCDA has proven to be effective for decision making in hygiene problems and should be further enhanced and utilised, despite being poorly investigated. [PERSON] et al. [107] drew a similar conclusion when investigating the suitability of maps for controlled aquifer recharge with MCDA. Although the utility of MCDA in such applications has not been emphasised, the data collected through this review can assist the planners of controlled aquifer recharge areas in engaging with MCDA in a more structured manner.  
The remaining five reviews cover various topics, all of which are recent. [PERSON] et al. [101] studied MCDA for environmental and water resource planning and management. They analysed 320 articles from 57 countries and found a significant increase in the adoption of MCDA for these issues. The authors concluded that MCDA can effectively address the multidimensional and intricate aspects of water management, including economic, environmental, legislative, and political evaluation criteria. [PERSON] et al. [102] investigated the use of MCDA in flood management and drought events. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of MCDA techniques in enhancing the management of flood and drought disasters, whether by applying a single MCDA method or a combination of techniques in a hybrid approach. [PERSON] et al. [105] reviewed the application of MCDA for flood mitigation and risk management and concluded that MCDA methods have demonstrated the ability to incorporate stakeholder input with less complex processing, fewer input data requirements, accurate results, and reduced uncertainty. However, while MCDA has proven to be a valuable tool for preliminary vulnerability, damage, risk, and flood management studies, there is room for improvement to increase the reliability of results. [PERSON] et al. [104] focused on integrating MCDA with water allocation issues, which have gained significant interest, particularly since 2014. It was suggested that this interest will continue to increase. However, it was stated that, while many studies consider multiple factors, they do not devote enough attention to the challenges of climate change. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [106] conducted a study on the application of MCDA in assessing pollution risk at the watershed scale. The results indicate a significant increase in the number of studies, particularly over the last decade, with AHP being the dominant method.