The WADI project has been conceived :

• To develop an integrated information system devoted to computer assisted watershed planning and management to meet water demand requirements, for operational use by engineers and decision makers. This system will provide tools capable to process data and handle all the other computational aspects through mathematical models, optimization schemes and visualization through GIS techniques and viewer tools.
• To take account of end-users requirements and involve them.

Planning issues are to be considered carefully and carried out seriously; the implication of field practitioners is a key prerequisite to the success of the project. The users will be thoroughly involved in identifying their needs in all the steps of the development. For these purposes, and the achievement of the goals assigned and especially for a running operational system at the end of the project, the WADI project will:

• Allow the broader understanding of watershed needs and issues developed through a watershed planning process and therefore foster improved decision-making by local authorities, watershed agencies and central administrations;
• Use data from the most advanced acquisition technology including remote sensing imagery embodied within a Geographical Information System database;
• Develop advanced data processing tools for Modeling and simulation of various aspects:
  • Watershed characteristics (topography, physiography, morphology, geometry, data acquisition and processing including remote sensing), Potential sites inventory and Geographic information Systems,
  • Water resources assessment,
  • Water demand (drinking water supply, irrigation, energy, sanitary flow),
  • Numerical models for hydrology and hydraulics to perform flood simulation for various scenarios, to assess flood damage and analyze floodplain for the case studies sites, taking advantage of High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) and Parallel Computing.
  • Planning and Management tools for sustainable development,
  • Allow transferring GIS technology to planning groups in the field to easily achieve visual consensus-based watershed planning and management.

In addition knowledge dissemination and transfer within the consortium and beyond extending it to the regional level for cost-effective benefit to neighboring countries, is also planned focusing on the learn to learn concept.

The data sets include watershed characteristics including geographical data, hydroclimatological data, socio-economic data, environmental data, digital elevation maps, soil properties, land use and remote sensing images. The GIS database will include the data sets needed for running the models and making the impact assessment.

The validation of the whole system in the context of pilot operations, in Lebanon and Morocco is planned.  

The outputs of WADI are summarized below:

• Data organization and handling for possible monitoring and follow-up
• Visualization : thematic maps for the extent of the flood, environmental impact, reservoir siting;
• Impact assessment: evaluation of the total affected area; regional and statistical analyses over the affected area ; simple socio-economic assessment of damage directly caused by flood,
• A user-friendly DSS under an integrated platform for data access, studying, analyzing, modeling and simulating while exploiting HPCN facilities, and visualizing thematic aspects of the watershed environment for planning and management purposes,

This multidisciplinary functions allows WADI to plan and to manage watersheds considering impacts and benefits in the region within the context of sustainable development.