The provision of critical services, such as drinking water, is crucial both in ordinary and in emergency conditions due to either natural (e.g. earthquakes, droughts, etc.) or man-made hazards (e.g. contamination). Although several models and tools have been developed to support decision-making in ordinary operations, such as e.g. for scheduling ordinary maintenance and for planning rehabilitation/replacement activities, relatively limited attention has been paid to support decision-making in emergency conditions, which are characterized by high complexity and inherent uncertainty. However, a huge amount of information related to emergency management of drinking water supply systems is typically available in the form of expert knowledge and may represent a precious source to enhance the effectiveness of decision-making processes. The present research aims at building a Decision Support System (DSS) for emergency managers, to identify and rank the most suitable measures to deal with emergency water supply. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used for integrating both scientific knowledge and expert knowledge in the decision process, and for explicitly including some criteria (e.g. social impacts) which are highly relevant during crises, but often difficult to consider in the most widely used methods and tools. Both the National Department of Civil Protection (DPC) and some water utilities with recent experiences in emergency management have been involved in model conceptualization and building.

无论是由于自然（例如地震，干旱等）还是人为危险（例如污染），在日常和紧急情况下，提供关键服务（例如饮用水）都是至关重要的。尽管已经开发了几种模型和工具来支持常规操作中的决策，例如用于安排常规维护和计划修复/替换活动，但在紧急情况下支持决策的关注相对有限，其特征是高复杂性和内在的不确定性。但是，通常会以专家知识的形式提供与饮用水供应系统的应急管理有关的大量信息，它们可能是提高决策过程有效性的宝贵资源。本研究旨在为应急管理人员建立决策支持系统（DSS），以识别和排序处理应急供水的最合适措施。层次分析法（AHP）已用于在决策过程中整合科学知识和专家知识，并明确包含一些在危机期间非常相关但在最广泛范围内通常难以考虑的标准（例如社会影响）使用的方法和工具。国家民防部（DPC）和一些在应急管理方面具有最新经验的自来水公司都参与了模型的概念化和构建。层次分析法（AHP）已用于在决策过程中整合科学知识和专家知识，并明确地包含一些在危机期间非常相关但在最广泛的范围内通常难以考虑的标准（例如社会影响）使用的方法和工具。国家民防部（DPC）和一些在应急管理方面具有最新经验的自来水公司都参与了模型的概念化和构建。层次分析法（AHP）已用于在决策过程中整合科学知识和专家知识，并明确包含一些在危机期间非常相关但在最广泛范围内通常难以考虑的标准（例如社会影响）使用的方法和工具。国家民防部（DPC）和一些在应急管理方面具有最新经验的自来水公司都参与了模型的概念化和构建。