Scenario analysis and management options for sustainable river basin management: Application of the Elbe DSS

We developed a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable river basin management in the German Elbe catchment (w100,000 km2), called Elbe-DSS. The system integrates georeferenced simulation models and related data sets with a user friendly interface and includes a library function. Design and content of the DSS have been developed in close cooperation with end users and stakeholders. The user can evaluate effectiveness of management actions like reforestation, improvement of treatment plant technology or the application of buffer strips under the influence of external constraints on climate, demographic and agro-economic changes to meet water management objectives such as water quality standards and discharge control. The paper (i) describes the conceptual design of the Elbe-DSS, (ii) demonstrates the applicability of the integrated catchment model by running three different management options for phosphate discharge reduction (reforestation, erosion control and ecological-farming) under the assumption of regional climate change based on IPCC scenarios, (iii) evaluates the effectiveness of the management options, and (iv) provides some lessons for the DSS-development in similar settings. The georeferenced approach allows the identification of local inputs in sub-catchments and their impact on the overall water quality, which helps the user to prioritize his management actions in terms of spatial distribution and effectiveness. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Software availability Name of Software: Elbe-DSS Developer: German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Project Group ELBE-ECOLOGY Contact address: Dr. Sebastian Kofalk, German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Department U2 – Ecological Interactions, Mainzer Tor 1, 56068 Koblenz, Germany Direct line: þ49 261 1306 5330 Switchboard: þ49 261 1306 0 Fax: þ49 261 1306 5333 E-mail: [email protected] Year first available: 2005, see Berlekamp et al. (2007) Hardware required: PC (2000 MHz or more, 1024 MB of RAM, Windows NT/2000/XP) Software required: Excel 97 or higher Program languages: Cþþ, Python, Fortran77 Program size: 500 MB including data Availability: CD from developer Cost: free of charge for non-profit and research institutions. x: þ49 341 235 3939.