PNNL

Abstract

We report on our approach for designing a collaborative problem solving environment for hydrologists, water quality planners and natural resource managers, all roles within a natural resource management agency and stakeholders in an integrated water resource management process. We describe our approach in context of the Integrated Water Resource Modeling System (IWRMS), under development by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the Department of Natural Resources and Parks in King County, Washington. This system will integrate a collection of water resource models (watersheds, rivers, lakes, estuaries) to provide the ability to address water, land use, and other natural resource management decisions and scenarios, with the goal of developing an integrated modeling capability to address future land use and resource management scenarios and provide scientific support to decision makers. Here, we discuss the five-step process used to ascertain the (potentially opposing) needs and interests of stakeholders and provide results and summaries from our experiences. The results of this process guide user interface design efforts to create a collaborative problems solving environment supporting multiple users with differing scientific backgrounds and modeling needs. We conclude with a discussion of participatory interface design methods used to encourage stakeholder involvement and acceptance of the system as well as the lessons learned to date.