Pollution, increase of water demand, and Global Climatic Changes are the main threats that affect water resources and that make crucial the development of effective planning and management strategies of water resources. Agriculture is one of the most important human activity with a major impact on water resources as it requires huge amounts of water and fertilizers. In the Azores Islands, the impacts of agriculture and dairy farming on groundwater quality are deeply felt, as well as the need of effective tools to support decisions. In this work, the architecture of a Decision Support System (DSS) for integrated water management in Terceira Island (Azores) is presented. Great attention is given to the description of the case study and to the different types of models that are necessary. The DSS includes chemical/physical/ecological models and decision models, in order to propose strategies based on optimisation criteria. In particular, four sub-models (hydraulic, chemical, agricultural, and dairy farming) are considered, and decision variables, objectives, and constraints of the decision problem are identified.
Keywords: Optimization, Dynamic modelling, Water Quality, Dairy Farming, Agricultural Practices
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Dentinho, T.P., Minciardi, R., Robba, M., Sacile, R., Silva, V. (2008). The Architecture of a Decision Support System (DSS) for Groundwater Quality Preservation in Terceira Island (Azores). In: Meire, P., Coenen, M., Lombardo, C., Robba, M., Sacile, R. (eds) Integrated Water Management. NATO Science Series, vol 80. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6552-1_17
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