The ultimate aim of the project is to study the changes that occur in a watershed, under a holistic approach, by including in a unified research scheme the terrestrial and coastal / marine areas. For this purpose, a multidisciplinary and multilevel research methodologies will be developed and combined aimed at building a pilot system for integrated water management.
The main result of this research effort will be a decision support system for the management and restoration of the aquatic environment in which all individual, optimized environmental tools, models and indicators (biological, hydrological, water quality, socio-economic, etc.) will be combined to enable a holistic view of the aquatic environment. In this way a better understanding of the functioning and interaction of the various aquatic ecosystem factors can be achieved while an improved framework for reliable analysis of the management scenarios impacts will be developed allowing optimal management and restoration practices.
Thus, the proposed project will create the necessary conditions for achieving the goal of a real integrated water management at the basin and coastal zone levels.