Computer‐Aided Negotiations of Water Disputes: An Interdisciplinary Role‐Playing Course

This study examines the evolution of a microworld created in a stakeholder process into educational materials used in a classroom setting. Microworlds have been used to stimulate learning through engagement in classroom and professional settings, but to our knowledge this is the first example that demonstrates utilization of the same process in both settings in the field of water resources, involving collaboration between the educational and professional sectors. An interdisciplinary role‐playing course in Computer‐Aided Negotiations (CAN) of water disputes is used as a case study. Upper‐level undergraduate students of varied academic backgrounds interacted in both the CAN process and river basin management model used in the CAN process as microworlds for one semester. We found evidence of meaningful engagement with both the process and model by all students. This finding has implications for engaging stakeholders without technical backgrounds in CAN processes. Students reported learning gains on surveys and pre/posttest scores improved, although only one item showed a statistically significant increase. During and after the teaching of this course, there was feedback of work products from the students to river basin managers. The course also provides the opportunity to learn the art of collaborative modeling through example and practice. Course materials are available at http://www.hydrologics.net/CAN_Course/.     

An Open Source GIS‐Based Decision Support System for Watershed Evaluation of Best Management Practices

Economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) at a watershed scale are increasingly examined using integrated economic‐hydrologic models. However, these models are typically complex and not user‐friendly for examining the effects of various BMP scenarios. In this study, an open source geographic information system (GIS)‐based decision support system (DSS), named the watershed evaluation of BMPs (WEBs), was developed for creating BMP scenarios and simulating economic costs and water quantity/quality benefits at farm field, subbasin, and watershed scales. This DSS or WEBs interface integrated a farm economic model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), and an optimization model within Whitebox Geospatial Analysis Tools (GAT), an open source GIS software. The DSS was applied to the 14.3‐km² Gully Creek watershed, a coastal watershed in southern Ontario, Canada that drains directly into Lake Huron. BMPs that were evaluated included conservation tillage, nutrient management, cover crop, and water and sediment control basins. In addition to assessing economic costs, water quantity/quality benefits, and cost effectiveness of BMPs, the DSS can be also used to examine prioritized BMP types/locations and corresponding economic and water quantity/quality tradeoffs in the study watershed based on environmental targets or budget constraints. Further developments of the DSS including interface transfer to other watersheds are also discussed. Editor's note : This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.