RAMWASS - Integrated Decision Support System for Risk Assessment and Management of the Water-Sediment-Soil System at River Basin Scale in Fluvial Ecosystems

RamWass is the acronym of Risk Assessment Model of the Water-Sediment-Soil. It is a project focused on developing a tool for the risk assessment and management of the negative impacts caused by human activities on the water/sediment/soil system in fluvial ecosystems. RamWass is a transnational project with participants from Spain, Germany and Italy. The devastating impacts of recent severe contamination accidents in relevant fluvial ecosystems have sparked interest in the water-sediment-soil modeling in fluvial ecosystems worldwide and have show that there is a need for methods and tools to assist governmental administrators and emergency services in the risk assessment of the water-sediment-soil (WASS) system in fluvial ecosystems. The objective of the project was to develop and validate a new DSS for the risk assessment and management for the prevention and/or reduction of the negative impacts caused by global change and human activities on the water/sediment/soil system at river basin scale in fluvial ecosystems. The eveloped DSS combines and integrates environmental and geo-physical data from earth observation systems, in-situ sensors and geo-referenced information, advanced computer simulation and graphical visualisation methods and artificial intelligence tools for generating knowledge contributing to the assessment of the ecological impact and the design of effective response actions maximising the integrity and safety of the ecosystem and human life.