Water Quality Mapping for Water Management

This paper explores how maps can support water quality management as part of a common project between a water management organization (Service Départementale de L’eau du Conseil Général de Haute-Loire - France) and a research laboratory (Centre de Recherche sur l’Environnement et l’Aménagement - Université de Saint-Etienne - France). Visualization tools are proposed to bring together the different stakeholders in the negotiation process for water management. Two fundamental questions are examined here: (1) how do we communicate the different water quality information to the various stakeholders to improve their awareness of the environment; and (2) how could we evaluate the effectiveness of a cartographic visualization system in the process of negotiation between different stakeholders. Alternative methods are proposed here to present and evaluate water quality information in the form of maps