Data-driven multi-criteria outranking of water–energy strategies using ELECTRE III

Introduction Water–energy management requires the prioritization of strategies across multiple and often conflicting objectives, including technical performance, economic cost, environmental impact, and implementation feasibility. Existing multi‐criteria decision analysis applications in the water–energy nexus are frequently constrained by limited datasets, insufficient transparency, and weak robustness assessment. This study develops a data-driven ELECTRE III framework to support transparent and reproducible prioritization of water–energy strategies under non-compensatory decision conditions. Methods A structured alternatives–criteria dataset was constructed using quantitative operational data, published benchmarks, and structured expert elicitation. Ten water–energy management strategies were evaluated across twelve criteria representing technical, economic, environmental, and feasibility dimensions. Criterion weights and ELECTRE III thresholds were derived from a large expert panel (n = 120). The ELECTRE III outranking method was applied to compute concordance, discordance, and credibility relations, followed by ascending and descending distillation procedures to obtain the final ranking. Robustness and sensitivity analyses were conducted under varying weights, thresholds, expert subgroups, and scenario conditions. Results The results show that behavioral demand response and hydraulic network optimization consistently achieved the highest‐ranking levels due to strong technical and feasibility performance combined with favorable environmental outcomes. Several intermediate strategies demonstrated context-dependent performance, while high-cost and implementation‐intensive strategies ranked lower because of feasibility constraints and veto effects. Cross‐method validation and robustness analysis indicated that the main ranking structure remained stable under systematic parameter variation. Discussion The findings demonstrate that ELECTRE III provides an effective framework for evaluating complex water‐energy strategies in non-compensatory decision environments. The proposed approach improves transparency, traceability, and reproducibility by integrating structured datasets, explicit threshold modeling, and large‐scale expert participation. The framework supports informed sustainability planning and policy prioritization under uncertainty and may be adapted for broader infrastructure and resource‐management applications.