Assessing optimal water quality monitoring network in road construction using integrated information-theoretic techniques

•A viable method is proposed for spatial design of water quality monitoring network.•The proposed method was applied in surface water and a road construction project.•The integrated form of transinformation entropy and value of information was used.•The application of NSGA-II and III based optimization model were assessed.•The TOPSIS, PROMETHEE, and AHP models were utilized for decision-making.