Decision Support System Architecture for Real-Time Water Management

Management of water uses requests to harmonize demands and needs which are getting more and more complex and sophisticated. During the past three decades, modeling systems for hydrology, hydraulics, and water quality have been used as stand-alone products and were used in order to produce an analysis of a current situation and to generate forecast according to different horizons. The current situation, characterized by the fast increase of monitoring devices mainly in urban environments, requests an integration of the modeling tools into the information systems that are now dedicated to the global management of urban environments and related services. Energy distribution, water distribution, solid wastes collection, and traffic optimization are today major issues for cities that are looking for functional Decisions Supports Systems (DSSs) that may integrate the various components and operate in a sustainable perspective. In addition, the basic requirement of real-time assessment of the situation, the modeling systems identified as main elements of analytics and used for hydrology, hydraulic, and water quality forecasts have to integrate a common framework allowing modular approach and interoperability. This chapter presents the interest for a generic operational approach that could be implemented in order to address the management of water uses in a complex urban environment and to provide real-time assessment and forecasts. The proposed approach is illustrated with the AquaVar project, an application developed on the Var catchment located in the French Riviera and for an area of 3000 km².