ABSTRACT
Within the framework of an Arab-German technical cooperation project, an easy to use and inexpensive Decision Support System (DSS) for integrated water resources management was applied, further developed and disseminated. This DSS mainly consists of two pre-existing components: the Water Evaluation And Planning software WEAP and the 3-D groundwater flow model MODFLOW. As a novelty, a linkage between these two components has been developed, which is essential to determine water balances in arid/semi-arid regions. The calibrated DSS provides the capacity to investigate, compare and evaluate various water management scenarios, considering the interactions between surface water and groundwater. Future constraints, such as changes in demography, economy, climate, land use, irrigation efficiency, or return flow, can easily be taken into account.
