Hydroinformatics and flood managementThe stress on fresh water resources for the many activities of human society is increasing. As the human population increases and the demands of industry and agriculture dominate many societies so the stress on the available water resources becomes mode and more difficult to accommodate. Efficient use of water to meet the many demands made upon it is a vexed problem that involves not just appreciation of the physical quantity and quality of the resource but also the interaction with ecological, economic, social and political factors. In other words, the integrated management of water resources is a key issue for the sustainability of human society in many parts of the world. Hydroinformatics focuses on the flow of information within a given decision making process that typically involves the use of simulation modelling to appreciate and work with the complexity of the water based system, in this case a water resources system. By modelling the system at, say, a river basin level it is possible to include both quantitative and qualitative aspects of surface and groundwater and to consider details of usage such as reservoir storage, land use and agricultural practices, power generation, ecological requirements, and urban water supply, drainage and treatment. In this way the integrated system can be modelled and used to inform decision making with regard to, say, the optimal use of water resources in the basin. One of the directions of development in hydroinformatics is the use of networks for distributed decision making. It has been demonstrated that a wide group of different stakeholders can be brought together over Internet to make decisions. This is done on the basis of a common understanding of the problems and issues involved as generated through a shared simulation model and supported by decision making tools that enable judgements to be made in the context of both tangible and intangible factors and the production of collaborative decisions. An important recent thesis that is relevant in this respect is Hydroinformatics as Sociotechnology: Promoting Individual Stakeholder Participation by Using Network Distributed Decision Support Systems by Andreja Jonoski. Some recent IHE MScs in hydroinformatics have included: Optimal reservoir operation for flood control using a hybrid modelling
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