Open source web applications for spatial data management and for water resource analysis

Many problems of water resource management are strongly related to their spatial distribution and due to a use that is usually uncontrolled, such as water withdrawals. For these reasons, web procedures have been developed in order to manage spatial data of interest and to analyze information on water resources, so that this tool can be widely used and shared freely and easily by all stakeholders. A prototype of this instrument is the web tool "Water Resources Management and Evaluation" (WRME), which had its first practical application in the project " Prelievi Idrici e Valutazione della Risorsa Idrica Disponibile " (PIVRID), supported and commissioned by Provincia di Perugia. The main features of this project can be summarized as follows: • is easy to use: both for the database like and the map-based consultation; • uses synthetic indicators simplifying the hydrological and hydraulic information; • integrates tools for the update and the exchange of data between different databases of different stakeholders; • integrates the possibility to implement and update, in a distributed manner over the basin and the drainage network, all constraints arising from the different legislations and management plans; • provides synthetic information on the sustainability of scenarios; • provides synthetic information on the sustainability of new water withdrawals; • users don’t have to invest large amount of money on software licenses, therefore these economic resources can be reinvested on training and development. In this project the concept of sharing tools and procedures among stakeholders is not a mere form of communication, but is essential for the stages of assessing the sustainability of the scenarios and future demands in water resources management, taking into account constraints and environmental issues. The engine of the project is released under the GNU Affero General Public License, so it can be used in other contexts and expanded according to the needs of other operators.