Resolving conflicting objectives in the management of the Plastiras Lake: can we quantify beauty?

摘要

The possible water management of the Plastiras Lake, an artificial reservoir incentral Greece, is examined. The lake and surrounding landscape areaesthetically degraded when the water level drops, and the requirement ofmaintaining a high quality of the scenery constitutes one of the severalconflicting water uses, the other ones being irrigation, water supply, andpower production. This environmental water use, and, to a lesser extent, therequirement for adequate water quality, results in constraining the annualrelease. Thus, the allowed fluctuation of reservoir stage is not defined bythe physical and technical characteristics of the reservoir, but by amulti-criteria decision, the three criteria being maximising water release,ensuring adequate water quality, and maintaining a high quality of the naturallandscape. Each of these criteria is analyzed separately. The results are thenput together in a multicriterion tableau, which helps understand theimplications of the possible alternative decisions. Several conflict resolutionmethods are overviewed, namely willingness to pay, hedonic prices, andmulti-criteria decision analysis. All these methods attempt to quantifynon-quantifiable qualities, and it is concluded that they don't necessarilyoffer any advantage over merely making a choice based on understanding.