Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
8-1-2014
Abstract
In recent years a major effort has been done to make water quality modelling tools available for water resources management at a river basin scale. The European water framework directive clear states that these tools must be used in making the diagnostic of surface water bodies water quality status and to anticipate the impact of measures to be implemented in order to achieve a good ecological status by 2015 in European waters. In order to make modelling tools usable by all the actors enrolled in water resources management process at river basins, these tools must be simple, user-friendly and robust. Water managers have shown strong interest in the integration of model tools throughout the use of graphical interfaces in their activities. These tools must be able to establish water management scenarios but it is well known that water managers have lack of time for training in the use of complex systems. Also software and hardware costs appear to be an important constrain in implementing these tools. Several solutions are being implemented throughout European countries, resulting from the development and integration of different software packages using different integration technologies. This paper presents a hydroinformatic platform specifically designed for a Portuguese north-western river basin (river Cávado) in order to define, simulate and analyse hydrodynamics and water quality management scenarios. The software solution was designed to be operated in a web environment, taking advantage of the integration capabilities of this software environment and the user friendliness of web interfaces. It is composed of the following main components: water monitoring data-bases, hydrodynamics and water quality river models, and reports facilities for the presentation of output results. The applicability of this hydroinformatic environment is demonstrated in the study of waste water treatment plants discharges impacts on the river water quality for different river flow regimes.
Comments
Session R62, Integrated Watershed Management