TESTING AND EVALUATION OF A LOCAL WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LWMS)

摘要

Nile Valley and Delta encompass a huge irrigation network that is controlled and managed efficiently by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. New advanced technologies are always adapted for various tasks, such as Water Resources Management Systems, DBMS, GPS, etc...All tasks need to be executed using automatic and efficient methodology employing advanced techniques such as GIS, expert system, and data mining. A prototype Local Water Management System (LWMS) is developed. The proposed system integrates various technologies such as a Geographic Information System (GIS), a Database Management System (DBMS), and a Decision Support System (DSS) for local water management in Egypt. This system contributes to the efforts carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) for controlling and managing various water resources and demands and achieving the optimal water usage balance with maximum crops production & productivity profit with minimal environmental harmless. GIS database is developed from low-scale maps produced in the last decade by the Egyptian Survey Authority (ESA). Maps are transformed into GIS vector format and handled by ARC GIS software package. Surface water courses are only incorporated in the prototype system at the beginning, including Nile river, canals, and drains. Then, ground water (wells) are also integrated in the modified version. GPS / GIS data acquisition technique is utilized for data collection of wells in addition to canals and drains which have widths less than five meters. Attribute data are collected from their original sources. After that, the GIS database is developed using the ARC GIS ARC INFO software package. After testing and evaluation, the modified system is proven to be efficient for local water management in the chosen study areas. However, more efforts should be done for the implementation of the developed model on the national level as well as for incorporating various scenario building techniques for handling less-important descriptive parameters related to water management.