Generic Modeling Framework for Integrated Water Resources Management

By definition, integrated water resources management (IWRM) deals with planning, design and operation of complex systems in order to control the quantity, quality, temporal and spatial distribution of water with the main objective of meeting human and ecological needs and providing protection from water disasters. Complexity is a result of water resources system structure and interaction between system components. This paper presents a generic modeling framework which integrates: (i) geographic information system (GIS); (ii) system dynamics simulation model (SDS); (iii) agent-based model (ABM); and (iv) a set of physical models (hydrologic, hydraulic, water quality, reservoir operation, and river hydrodynamic). Selection of tools is driven by their ability to (a) respond to the main requirements of the IWRM; (b) properly capture the system structure; and (c) explicitly present the system behaviour as function of time and location in space. System dynamics simulation captures temporal dynamics in an integrated feedback model that includes physical and socioeconomic sectors. Management policies established in the participatory decision making environment are easily investigated through the simulation of system behaviour. Agent-based model is used to analyze spatial dynamics of complex physical-social-economic-biologic system. The IWRM modelling framework is tested using data from the Upper Thames River Watershed located in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, in collaboration with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.