Development of a decision support system for integrated water management in river basins

The application of computers for the planning and operation of water resource systems is a rapidly advancing field of research. In recent years, decision support system (DSS) has gained much attention in civil engineering, in which the output can be displayed in high quality and easy to be understood. In this study, the decision support system for integrated water management, CTIWM, is developed with particular reference to Chikugo River basin, a multipurpose multireservoir system in Japan. It uses a module library that contains compatible modules for simulating a variety of water and physio-chemical processes. Different kinds of numerical models may be invoked through user interface menu, which facilitates communications between users and models in a friendly way. It demonstrates that the integration of DSS technique, simulation and optimization models is an efficient way for water resources management.