Innovative tools for water quality management and policy analysis: Desert and streamplan

This paper presents the major features of two decision support systems (DSS ) for river wafer quality modeling and policy analysis recently developed a t the international Institute of Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), DESERT a nd STREAMPLAN. DESERT integrates in a single package data management, model calibration, simulation, optimization and presentation of results. DESERT has the flexibility to allow the specification of both alternative water qu ality models and flow hydraulics for different branches of the same river b asin. Specification of these models can be done interactively through Micro soft(R) Windows commands and menus and an easy to use interpreted language. Detailed analysis of the effects of parameter uncertainty on water quality results is integrated into DESERT. STREAMPLAN, on the other hand, is an in tegrated, easy-to-use software system for analyzing alternative water quali ty management policies on a river basin let el. These policies include unif orm emission reduction and effluent standard based strategies, ambient wate r quality and least-cost strategies, total emission reduction under minimiz ed costs, mixed strategies, local and regional policies, and strategies wit h economic instruments. A distinctive feature of STREAMPLAN is the integrat ion of a detailed model of municipal wastewater generation with a water qua lity model and policy analysis tools on a river basin scale. (C) 1999 Publi shed by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of the IAWQ. All rights reserved.