GABARDINE RESEARCH PROJECT

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GABARDINE RESEARCH PROJECT Some thoughts
about DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS) By JACOB
BEAR and JACOB BENSABAT Goettingen, Germany,
January 25, 2007
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• Objectives
• Explore and decide about
• Intended user of the DSS (planners, decision
  makers, ).
• General role of the DSS in the planning process.
• Nature of the DSS (directives, guidelines, tools,
  data, ).
• Structure of the DSS (subjects/information/knowled
  ge/data
• to be included..)
• Content
• Planning and/or management?

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FIRST QUESTION WHO ARE THE END USERS?
Possible answers
1. The planner and/or designer of an AR project,
within the framework of a planned or an existing
Water Resources Project (ARP). Then the need
for additional water (quantity and
quality/potential consumers, reliability, time
(seasonal, continuous supply, etc) has to be
pre-established, within the framework of the WRP,
prior to using the DSS, leaving to the DSS only
the task of AR planning. The planner may still
conclude that conditions that enable the AR do
not exist, either because there is no way that an
AR, as part of the WRP, will be able to supply
the required water (quality, quantity,
reliability , etc.), or because there are land
constraints that do not enable the construction
of the AR.
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Or, It is possible to construct an AR, and, in
fact, there exist more than one feasible
alternative design (in terms of location, water
alternatives, beneficiaries, costs, etc.), and
the optimal AR project has to be selected

• Information required for the planning/design of
  AR alternatives
• Water needs (quantity, quality, details or types
  of consumers),
• reliability of supply, time/season
  availability, etc.). These are
• provided by the management of the WRP.
• Aquifers within the watershed(s), which may be
  recharged. Types
• of aquifers, areal extent, hydrogeological
  information, flow
• regime, water quality, sources of water and
  pollutants, aquifer
• hydro-geological data, wells, springs,
• Physical parameters aquifer characteristics
  (hydraulic
• conductivity, width of the unsaturated zone,
  porosity,
• lithology etc.)

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• Availability of locations for AR facilities
  (ponds/wells). This kind of information
  requires land use information, current and
  expected.
• If no land is available, the AR proposition will
  have to be abandoned, or based only on injection
  wells.
• Availability of water (surface water,
  groundwater) for AR fresh water, treated
  effluent or both and limitations regarding the
• use of the water for AR purposes.
• The DSS will contain guidelines for the selection
  of appropriate
• sites for the AR (e.g., phreatic aquifer, if
  seasonal/long term storage is
  required).

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End-user 2 The planner of a water resources
project at the watershed scale, in which an AR
is contemplated as one component of the
system. In this case, the DSS will contain
material (guidelines, models, data, information,
knowledge, data, etc.), related to the
planning and management of a regional/watershed
scale Water Resources Projects.
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End-user 3 A decision maker, i.e., someone at
the political, non-technical level, who has to
approve the Water Resources Project,
with/without the AR. The decision maker, who may
be simultaneously in charge of more than a single
watershed, is the one who introduces (via the
planners and via the DSS) the objective
function (or functions) and the various
constraints (environmental, social, economic and
others)
that determine the eventual selection of the
optimal project
alternative.
The DSS can be constructed such
that it provides "services, or guidelines to
any or all of the end-users" mentioned above.
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SECOND QUESTION WHAT IS THE NATURE OR THE
FUNCYTIONALITY
OF THE DSS? Option 1 An "expert system", i.e.,
the DSS should contain guidelines to planners and
decision makers (depending on the response to
Question 1), i.e., indicating the steps that
have to be undertaken in the planning and/or
decision making process. The DSS should
contain the "expert system" guidelines as in
Answer 1a, but it should be more than just
guidelines, as it should also provide the tools,
e.g., models, required for the implementation of
various steps that have to be taken, as well as a
database that should contain all the required
data.
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For example METHODS Spreading Basins Recharge
Pits and Shafts Ditches Recharge wells Enhanced
Streambed Infiltration Conjunctive (dual
purpose) wells
WATER CONSIDERATION Availability of Treated
Waste Water (quantity, quality, location,
time) Quantity and Quality of Source Water
Available Compatibility of injected water and
indigenous aquifer water. Clogging (due to water
quality) potential
COMPLIANCE WITH LOCAL WATER/LAND USE REGULATIONS
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Option 2 A screening and filtering system the
DSS could facilitate the evaluation of planning
alternatives according to a number of predefined
criteria and measures. For example, a grade" or
"score" can be assigned to each
alternative/scenario. However, in this way,
no information is provided regarding ways to
modify/improve alternatives.
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• DSS as a A planning tool
• Aids and guides in the development of alternative
  solutions/projects
• (at various scales) to a specified problem.
• Helps in the screening of the alternative
  solutions, leaving only the
• feasible ones. This is done by running models of
  the various
• alternatives and removing alternatives that
  violate specified
• constraints.
• Helps in selecting the optimal solution to the
  specified problem,
• By guiding the decision maker in the use of a
  multi-criterion
• analysis too.

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• DECISION MAKING
• The underlying understanding is that real
  decisions are made by
• "politicians" and not by planners/engineers.
  These people have
• to be guided. Guidance will be provided by a
  "negotiating team
• that serves as a bridge between the
  planners/engineers, various
• experts, and various segments of the
  society/interest group
• that have interest in the decision, and their
  voice should be
• heard, prior to making the decision.
• The considered decision the selection of the
  best/optimal
• alternative, given a number of feasible
  alternative solutions to
• the problem.
• To make such decision, we need

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• To make such decision, we need
• An objective function, or a number of objective
  functions,
• e.g.,
• Cost of the project---and we wish to minimize the
  cost.
• Revenues to the population, and we wish to
  maximize it.
• Rise in living standards to the entire population
  or to segments of the population, and we wish to
  maximize it.
• Increased reliability of the water supply system,
  and we wish to maximize reliability
• General satisfaction of the population, and we
  wish to
• maximize it.
• Constraints hydrological, technical,
  socio-economical, political, etc

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• Constraints hydrological, technical,
  socio-economical,
• political, etc.
• Hydrological water levels , specified
  regionsminimum and/or
• maximum. Water quality (specific
  measures) at specified
• locations, capacity of existing wells,
  base flow of streams
• and springs, etc.
• Technical Capacity of wells, pipelines and
  storage reservoirs,
• Economical Available budget, cost of recharge
  facility, or per
• unit volume of injected water, cost of
  water in the project, etc.
• Socio-economic Supply to specific segments of
  society, or to
• specific sub-regions,
• Nature Minimum allocation to nature preservation.

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Decision maker
Planner
Negotiator

• Negotiator
• If decision makers are involved, usually, they
  are non-technical
• people from the political arena. There must be a
  team of
• "negotiators" that will provide the link between
  these people
• and the technical/planning teams. The negotiators
  will bring
• the technical information to the political
  decision makers in a
• form that is understood by them, and transmit to
  the planners
• the directions indicated by the decision makers,
  again translated
• into terms that enable them to plan the projects.
• The negotiating team can also conduct the
  required surveys
• in order to provide the socio-economic input as
  expressed by
• various groups of interest (industrialists,
  farmers, green groups, etc).

Public
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• Tool Box
• the tool box will contain computer codes, or
  links to computer
• codes that are required by the users of the DSS.
  For example
• Hydrogeological models for flow and solute
  transport, including
• the case of sea water intrusion into a
  coastal aquifer
• HYDROBUDGETthe tool for evaluating the water
  budget of
• any investigated aquifer.
• Negotiation tools
• .
• Multicriteria analysis and or optimization tools.

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DATA BASE The DSS will include the data base,
and all data management tool required for
planning the project, and, if necessary,
managing it---if management is part of the
project. The extent and content of the data
base will depend on the answer to Question
1. Sources of water, including sewage treatment
plants Water levels/piezometric heads of the
relevant aquifers. Water quality
parameters. Aquifer coefficients
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Wells Springs Water consumption (e.g., list of
consumers location/quantity/quality) Socio-Econo
mic parameters. Water supply networks (pipes,
pumping stations and reservoirs)
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THANK YOU
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