GIS and Remote Sensing in Hydrology, Water Resources and Environment (Proceedings of ICGRHWE held at the Three Gorges Dam, China, September 2003). IAHS Publ. 289, 2004, 293-300

1 Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing (FAW) at the University of Ulm, PO-Box 2060,
D-89010 Ulm, Germany

2 River Authority Danube/Lake Constance, PO-Box 1364, D-88493 Riedlingen, Germany

Abstract High standards of the ecomorphological quality of running waters, as well as the biochemical water quality, are vital to living organisms in this environment. This article presents a GIS-based software tool for the evaluation of the ecomorphological quality of running waters. The procedure which has been implemented for this purpose consists of four steps. First a reference system is defined which addresses the potentially natural state of the river or creek. The compilation of data for determining the current ecomorphological quality of the river or creek comprises step two. Thirdly an evaluation of the ecomorphological quality of the river or creek takes place. And finally in the fourth step, objectives for enhancing the ecomorphological quality of the river or creek are identified and documented. The latter comprises a basis for engieering redesign works of selected river sections.

Key words bio-chemical water quality; decision support system; ecomorphological water quality; Germany; GIS