ZER0-M - CARTOGRAPHIC DECISION SUPPORT FOR THE DESIGN OF
‘ZERO OUTFLOW MUNICIPALITIES’
AP Pucher, SN Niederer
alexander.pucher@univie.ac.at
Despite the many natural constraints preventing the access to
freshwater, it is clear that effective water management can prevent or relieve
many problems caused by water pollution and scarcity. With only about 5 per
cent of the sewage produced worldwide biologically treated, and about 40 per
cent of the freshwater consumption worldwide used for the crop irrigation the
proliferation of affordable water management and wastewater treatment is of
prime importance. In contrast to conventional sewage treatment based on
flush-and-discharge systems, Sustainable Water Management represents a value
added and affordable alternative.
The project “Sustainable Concepts towards a Zero Outflow Municipality”
(Zer0-M) within the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership aims at the development of
concepts and technologies for the achievement of optimised close-loop usage of
all water flows in small municipalities and settlements not connected to a
central wastewater treatment. One major task of the Zer0-M project is the
development of a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) in order to contribute
to the dissemination of the Sustainable Water Management (SWM) approach. The
aim is to provide experts and technicians with a tool that helps them to
develop and compare multiple SWM solutions for an existing problem. Thus, it is
helping them to choose the optimum solution according to clearly defined
criteria. Geoinformation and cartography can highly contribute to these
processes.
In the beginning, the existing problems have to be identified and
specified. Tools for visual and exploratory data analysis are provided and are
helping the user to achieve a more holistic view of the situation and possible
solutions. However, thematic and geographic information has to be acquired
beforehand in order to be evaluated by the user. Based on all gathered
information, the user can develop possible solutions to the problems identified
in the beginning. Central point for their development in the SDSS is the
interactive map. Alternatives are designed using functionalities of a GIS – supporting
the development of the layout – and attribute information describing all
elements.
Besides computer-screen output, high quality printed output in form of
maps, figure and result tables have proven to be very beneficial, especially in
those areas, where computers usage is still of little importance.
The paper presents the results of a three year planning and
implementation process and shows the advantages of an approach, utilizing
geoinformation and cartography to achieve sustainable solutions.