Making the Decision Support System Work
The Decision Support System (DSS) is supposed to serve decision makers on issues concerning water management strategies by summarising, merging and visualising relevant information. Therefore the DSS is the key component in the IWRM process.
The DSS is designed as a practice and implementation oriented system that can visualize the current water resources situation and the medium and long-term impact of water management decisions and measures on the basis of generally accepted data. The common data basis makes it possible to overcome sectoral planning and to make holistic management decisions.
The running system, which can be extended as per requirements, will merge complex model results and makes it possible to
• identify water management alternatives,
• estimate the scope of water management decisions and,
• legitimise decisions.
DSS – key component of the IWRM process
Fed with data about the water resources in the catchment and water demands of the different water users, the DSS is able to depict the interlinkage of important elements like water using sectors, groundwater and surface water, present and future. Further on it can be fed with data of climate models so that the long-term effects of climate change can be considered in management decisions. This way the DSS creates the centre of reference for water management decisions and their implementation across the various sectors. Therefore it is the best known tool for handling the multifaceted challenges and issues in the catchment.
By the end of the project’s second phase, the water management tool (WMT) is to be turned into the DSS and put into operation. Within the work package “Turning WMT into a DSS” missing data will be complemented by the German-Iranian project team and integrated into the system.