Keywords
openmi, model linking, integrated water management
Start Date
1-7-2008 12:00 AM
Abstract
Water management in the transnational Scheldt River Basin (Belgium, France,the Netherlands) is scattered among many different authorities and operators. For severalyears, most of them have adopted modelling as a technology for optimising investment andoperation strategies for the part of the water system that is under their responsibility. Asthe European Water Framework Directive imposes water management to be integratedacross both authorities and water domains, there is a clear need to streamline and integratethe various modelling efforts. However, many of those models have been developedcompletely independently from each other, with inconsistent spatial boundaries, and usingdifferent approaches and objectives. Hence, integrating these models is far fromstraightforward. The development and release of the OpenMI (Open Modelling Interface)standard in 2005 offered a potential solution to linking models of various origins andconcepts, and the challenge was taken up to try and apply this new standard at full scaleon real operational models. In the frame of the demonstration project OpenMI-Life, fouruse cases were defined within the Scheldt basin, in which various aspects of model linkingwill be tested. By the end of the project, it is hoped that water managers will have betterinsights of how interactions between water systems may affect strategic decisions.
Demonstration of Integrated Modelling using the OpenMI in the Scheldt River Basin
Water management in the transnational Scheldt River Basin (Belgium, France,the Netherlands) is scattered among many different authorities and operators. For severalyears, most of them have adopted modelling as a technology for optimising investment andoperation strategies for the part of the water system that is under their responsibility. Asthe European Water Framework Directive imposes water management to be integratedacross both authorities and water domains, there is a clear need to streamline and integratethe various modelling efforts. However, many of those models have been developedcompletely independently from each other, with inconsistent spatial boundaries, and usingdifferent approaches and objectives. Hence, integrating these models is far fromstraightforward. The development and release of the OpenMI (Open Modelling Interface)standard in 2005 offered a potential solution to linking models of various origins andconcepts, and the challenge was taken up to try and apply this new standard at full scaleon real operational models. In the frame of the demonstration project OpenMI-Life, fouruse cases were defined within the Scheldt basin, in which various aspects of model linkingwill be tested. By the end of the project, it is hoped that water managers will have betterinsights of how interactions between water systems may affect strategic decisions.
