Institutional Support Of Water Resource Models

Solutions to human and institutional problems that inhibit effective development and use of water resource computer models are identified. Support of water resource models is treated under the topics of quality control, technology transfer, model improvement and maintenance, and education of managers/decision makers. A main thesis is that effective model support is best achieved by means of centralized organizational units that are designed to perform a wide range of support activities that include model evaluation and enhancement preparation of documentation, user assistance, maintenance, the conducting of training courses and seminars, and project applications. (Author).

Computer program documentation is important to proper model use. Common causes of poor documentation include: organizational negligence and lack of capability, difficulty in clearly communicating a description of the model, motivation on the part of the modeler to prepare good documentation, absence of examples of good documentation, inadequate time funds, staff. (Author).