Introduction

Around the world freshwater resources are becoming increasingly utilized as human populations multiply. Providing a reliable source of fresh water to all people is a challenge we are facing in the new millenium. In order to meet this challenge, it is essential to know as much about our fresh water resources as possible. GIS will be an important tool for modeling and helping to manage fresh water. This annotated bibliography covers a selection of papers relating to the use of GIS in water resources planning and management.

Ali, M. H., L.T. Shui, W.R. Walker. 2003. Optimal Water Management for Reservoir Based Irrigation Projects Using Geographic Information System. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. 129(1): 1-10.

This paper evaluates the performance of the Muda Irrigation Project in Malaysia. Models were developed to simulate reservoir storage capacity and to compute optimal reservoir storage, optimal irrigation demand, and optimal reservoir release. The modeled water balance components were compared to real data when possible. GIS was used to store and analyze the modeled water balance components and to create maps of monthly crop water requirements. This method was deemed useful by the authors for analyzing optimal water allocation. This paper provides good information regarding water resources modeling and the role GIS can play in this process.

Biswas, S., S. Sudhakar, V.R. Desai. 2002. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System Based Approach for Watershed Conservation. Journal of Surveying Engineering. 128(3): 108-124.

This paper discusses the use of GIS in prioritizing watersheds for conservation. The study discussed in this paper focuses on a portion of the Midnapore district of West Bengal State in eastern India. The study area was divided into microwatersheds. Researchers used ArcInfo to analyze check dams and to prioritize the microwatersheds for conservation measures based on morphometric parameters. The authors conclude that remote sensing and GIS are useful for improving soil and water conservation, and that prioritization of microwatersheds is essential. This paper provides a good approach for using GIS to manage a watershed.

Depeweg, H., E.R. Urquieta. 2004. GIS Tools and the Design of Irrigation Canals. Irrigation and Drainage. 53: 301-314.

The focus of this paper is the optimization of irrigation canal location. Researches analyze topograpic data, soil data, and natural drainage data in a GIS to locate the most suitable location for an irrigation canal. The authors found that DEMs adequately modeled surface variation, GIS is more accurate than manually designing a canal, GIS enables the comparison of various features, and the incorporation of GPS can identify specific locations. The disadvantages of using GIS are the amount of data and computational requirements are limiting, resolution and availability of data may be problematic, and that hardware, software, and training are required. The GIS method reduced the amount of earthwork required for canal construction compared to manual designs. This paper provides good information on utilizing GIS to solve water distribution problems.

Garbrecht, J., F.L. Ogden, P.A. DeBarry, D.R. Maidment. 2001. GIS and Distributed Watershed Models. I: Data Coverages and Sources. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering. 6(6): 506-514.

This is the first of a two part paper. The objective is to provide background information on GIS modeling and the selection and application of GIS in watershed modeling. The paper discusses differences between raster and vector data structures, map projections, digital elevation models (DEM), and several sources of data important to watershed modeling. The paper concludes that the recent explosion of data and computational power provide new opportunities for visualization and modeling. The authors then discuss the caveats of collecting data from various sources such as search time and projection issues. This paper provides a good reference for sources of different hydrologic data and a good overview of GIS for the non-expert.

Sudheer, R.S., J.M. Jacobs. 2004. A GIS-based model to estimate the regionally distributed drought water demand. Agricultural Water Management. 66: 1-13.

Tiegs, S.D., M. Pohl. 2005. Planform channel dynamics of the lower Colorado River: 1976-2000. Geomorphology. 69: 14-27.

This study examines the channel response of the Colorado River to its recently altered hydrology. The study uses a time series of georeferenced aerial photography and GIS analysis to study these changes. The results of the analysis indicate that channel contraction has been the dominant planform process in recent years, but flooding has resulted in channel expansion. This approach would be useful for studying change in a river system, and could be useful to water resources managers.

Vijendra, K.B., G. Hoogenboom, J.E. Hook, D.L. Thomas, L.C. Guerra, K.A. Harrison. 2004. Agricultural water use estimation using geospatial modeling and a geographic information system. Agricultural Water Management. 67: 185-199.

This paper presents a case study of water conflict between Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. The focus is on calculating agricultural water use in Georgia. Several geospatial techniques were used in this stugy, but the most successful radial basis function was found to be the most successful. The authors state that improved sampling and remotely sensed data would improve this study. This paper presents a good example for modeling crop water use using GIS.

Wolf, A.T, S.B. Yoffe, M. Giordano. 2003. International waters: identifying basins at risk. Water Policy 5: 29-60.

The objective of this project was to assess all reported events of either conflict or cooperation between nations over a 50 year period in order to identify basins at potential risk of conflict. Researchers compiled data into a GIS from three categories: biophysical, socio-economic, and geopolitical, from various databases. Data was analyzed using a GIS. The analysis was based on the basin country polygon, which is the area of a country within a river basin. The study revealed that the commonly discussed indicators of conflict such as climate, water stress, and population were only weakly linked to conflict. Instead, institutional capacity proved to be a stronger indicator of conflict. This paper provides a good example of using GIS in water resources research.

Yoffe, S., G. Fiske, Ma. Giordano, Me. Giordano, K. Larson, K. Stahl, A.T. Wolf. 2004. Geography of international water conflict and cooperation: Data sets and applications. Water Resources Research. 40: 1-12.

This paper focuses on the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database (TFDD) and the methodologies and datasets it contains. The TFDD focuses on the relationships between conflict and cooperation and fresh water resources. The TFDD contains three primary data sets: historical water relations, current and historical international river basins, and a spatial data set of indicator variables. GIS links the data sets and allows for spatial comparisons to be made. This paper presents a good source for information contained within the TFDD.

Water Resources Related Links:

Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database

Universities Partnership for Transboundary Waters

International Water Resources Association

Institute for Water and Watersheds