Virtual Environments and Water Quality Management

The recent developments in multimedia and virtual reality technologies allow water resources to be studied with the realism associated with site investigations and the “what if” analysis capabilities common in simulation systems. The proposed virtual reality water quality management systems relies upon the realistic representation of a watershed in three dimensions and the consideration of graphically based water quality models. The user may fly, walk, and dive in the estuarine basin, manipulate infrastructure systems (including polluters and non-polluting facilities), and visualize the results of those actions in real time and in three dimensions. The interface of this system follows many of the video game guidelines. Indeed, Virtual Tejo, a prototype developed for the Tagus Estuary for illustrative purposes, has been successfully used by several thousand users in a game-like environment. The planned extension of the system to the Internet will provide the ground to test the hypothesis that virtual reality water quality systems can assist decision-makers and facilitate citizen participation in water resources infrastructures planning.