Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Rule-based Decision Support System for the Morphological Rehabilitation of Watercourses

  • Published:
Water Resources Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A rule-based decision support system (DSS) has been developed to assist decision makers in preparing the EU programme of measures. The rehabilitation of morphological structures of small and medium-sized watercourses in Germany is the main objective. The lack of quantitative date and knowledge is the main obstacle in hydromorphological modelling. Therefore, DSS manipulates the decision-making process in a qualitative manner based on the knowledge of experts. The acquired knowledge is used to formulate ‘if–then’ rules to solve modelling problems. The developed DSS enables decision makers to select any watercourse in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), investigate the feasibility of different rehabilitation measures, predict the impact on the morphological structure and prepare a programme of morphological measures including cost estimation. The system has been implemented for the watercourses in NRW and validated with field data. First results show good agreement between the proposed morphological rehabilitation measures and the implemented ones as well as a satisfactory performance in predicting the morphological structure after implementation of the rehabilitation measures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bender M, Katopodis C, Simonovic SP (1992) A prototype expert system for fishway design. Environ Monit Assess 23:115–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortés U, Sànchez-Marrè M, Cecaronni L, Roda IR, Poch M (2000) Environmental decision support systems. Appl Intell 13(1):77–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Domanski B (1989) A PROLOG-based expert system for tuning MVS/XA. In: Performance Evaluation Review, vol 16, 2–4 February

  • European Parliament (2000) EU Water Framework Directive. Official Journal L 327:1–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SG, Grimm NB, Marti E, Holmes RM, Jones JB (1998) Material spiraling in stream corridors: a telescoping ecosystem model. Ecosystems 1(1):19–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • German Ministry of Environment and Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MUNLV NRW) (2005) Erfolgskontrolle von Maßnahmen zur Unterhaltung und zum naturnahen Ausbau von Fließgewässern. Köln

  • German Working Group of the Federal States (LAWA) (1998) Gewässerstruktur-gütekartierung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Verfahren für kleine und mittelgroße Fließgewässer

  • Hauer C, Liedermann M, Habersack H (2006) The influence of human impact to river morphology and aquatic ecology at the Austrian Kamp River. Vol 8, no 07430, 2006. European Geosciences Union 2006. SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU06-A-07430

  • Montgomery DR (2006) Geomorphology and restoration ecology. In: UCOWR journal of contemporary water research & education, issue 134, pp 16–19, July

  • North Rhine-Westphalia State Environment Agency (LUA NRW) (2002) Gewässergütebericht 2001 Nordrhein-Westfalen, Berichtszeitraum 1995–2000, Essen

  • North Rhine-Westphalia State Environment Agency (LUA NRW) (2003) Strukturgütedaten NRW der kleinen und mittelgroßen Fließgewässer

  • Scherer VR, Twelbeck R, Linnenweber C (2006) Gewässerstrukturgüte und Habitatqualität für Fischzönosen. Wasserwirtschaft 96:26–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Schülter M, Rüger N, Savitsky AG, Novikova NM, Matthies M, Leith H (2006) TUGAI: an integrated simulation tool for ecological assessment of alternative water management strategies in a degraded river delta. Environ Manage 38:238–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umwelt Bundes Amt (2005) Water framework directive – summary of river basin district analysis 2004 in Germany. Bonifatius, Paderborn

    Google Scholar 

  • Vicente D, Vellido A, Marti E, Comas J, Rodríguez-Roda I (2004). Exploration of the ecological status of Mediterranean rivers: clustering, visualizing and reconstructing streams data using Generative Topographic Mapping. In: Minig V, Zanasi A, Ebecken NFF, Brebbia CA (eds) Data

  • Zah R, Niederöst, M, Uehlinger, U (2000). Application of Photogrammetry in Freshwater Ecology: Analysing the Morphology of a High Flood Plain. IAPRS, Vol. XXXIII, Amsterdam, 2000

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Academic and Research Department of Engineering Hydrology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Hani Sewilam, Sabine Bartusseck & Heribert Nacken

Authors
  1. Hani Sewilam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sabine Bartusseck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Heribert Nacken
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hani Sewilam.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sewilam, H., Bartusseck, S. & Nacken, H. Rule-based Decision Support System for the Morphological Rehabilitation of Watercourses. Water Resour Manage 21, 2037–2047 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-007-9157-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-007-9157-0

Key words

Search

Navigation