HIweb, Online Computacional Tool for the Evaluation for Water Allocation in Watersheds

The water allocation problem in a river basin is at the core of water resources management. Nowadays, many hydro informatics decision support systems provide sophisticate water resources simulation and planning tools. However, social aspects and multi-user communication in real time are missing from many of the models. A simple stakeholder oriented analysis only provides the information related to the availability of water resources in a river basin. The variability of the weather and climate of a region added to the groundwater exchanges, the multiple water streams, the environmental impacts and the large number of user interactions make the water allocation a complex computational problem. This study presents a web platform based on python code that integrates the everyday interactions for an IWRM (integrated water resources management). The proposed python library works as a tool for simulate, plan and evaluate IWRM scenarios. This hydroinformatic integrated web tool (HIWEB) simulates a reservoir behavior representing the operational rules as well as its interaction with irrigation districts. The information required for the water balance in a catchment is handled in a database. The toolbox provides specific modules for quantifying irrigation consumption, domestic and industrial water demands. In order to validate the processes represented and the results obtained, the tool is tested on the Coello river basin in Colombia and its results are compared with WEAP and RIBASIM, two worldwide-recognized water allocation tools. This project is in the framework of S-MultiStor, an international collaborative research and innovation project, and it is expected to be extended to include a standardized methodology for sustainability assessment of the resources.