From Hydrological Models to Policy-Relevant Decision Support Systems (DSSs)

Abstract

Since the advent of modern computing platforms in the 1960s and despite scepticisms and uncertainties, modelling systems have become indispensable tools in water resources management. They have been postulated to support the decision-making process and hence the term decision support systems (DSSs) emerged. Hydroinformatics is a recent term compared to computational hydraulics and hydrological watershed modelling but it is an encompassing cross disciplinary concept covering hydraulics, hydrology, environmental engineering, socioeconomic and political (institutional) disciplines and it uses information and communication technologies to provide evidences for decision-makers. The aims of this chapter are two fold: (a) to review the current trends in modelling activities based on historical precedence; and (b) to present a conceptual framework for development of a comprehensive DSS using a case study approach. Hence, this chapter consists of three main parts: (1) a historical account of the DSSs, starting from early single process models to current integrated comprehensive basin-wide DSSs; (2) having established a historical perspective, case studies from Iranian experience are presented to outline a methodological (conceptual) framework for developing a comprehensive DSS. Examples of policy-relevant DSSs from the latest research are also presented. It is concluded that there would be a greater demand in the future to develop integrated policy-relevant DSSs comprising not only the technical and engineering aspects but to include the socioeconomic and political sciences as well. The new DSSs should be able to deal with uncertainties such as climate change (i.e. to have scenario analysis capabilities), be able to compare different management strategies using multi-criteria analysis tools and to include socio-economic, institutional and environmental sustainability criteria.