Integrated information base for sustainable water resources management

Abstract

Water resources management has to be based on "informed" decision making, where information in three dimensions, namely economic, social and environmental, is required to identify "indicators" for sustainability. Such identification is realized by the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) comprising the integrated tools of databases, models, GIS, and expert systems. The success of DSS applications is closely related to the quantity and quality of available information on economic, social and environmental aspects of water resources. In that regard, information may even be considered as the fourth pillar of sustainability. The proposed paper intends to focus on information requirements for sound water resources management, the use of DSS, and the identification of indicators for sustainability. The basic issues discussed will further be demonstrated on a case study from Turkey. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.