The river basin model

The River Basin Model which is a man-machine simulation model, used primarily to replicate the interactions taking place, within a real or hypothetical area, between the local water system and the full range of economic, social, and governmental activities of that area. It is a water resource model representing supply of, demand for, and quality of water, but it is also a labor market model, a land use and assessment model, and several more; it is a model of an entire regional system with water a subsystem realistically interacting with all the other major subsystems; the output from the operating programs of the computer package illustrate the impact that the water system has on such phenomena as housing selection, employment, and government budgetary activity. Model users are given control over all the resources of the local area being represented.

The River Basin Model is a man-machine model that can be use to represent in a suggestive fashion the interactions that take place within a real or hypothetical regional area between the local water system and the economic, social, and governmental sectors of that area. The computer portions of the model are a synthesis of several hundred sub-programs that deal with such regional phenomena as migration, housing selection, water supply, water quality, physical deterioration, employment, transportation, leisure time allocation, public school allocations, shopping patterns, and terminal use. The human portions of the model allow its users to make decisions that deal with population and economic growth, water pollution abatement, recycling of water, salaries, rents, prices, land transfers, leisure time allocations, voting, boycotts, property assessment, tax rates, budget appropriations, school operation, highway operation, public construction, utility service, municipal service, water service, recreation availability, zoning, and many more. Through the computer and human portions of the model, the holistic workings of a regional river basin area may be represented for purposes of training decision-makers, simulating the aggregate impacts of alternative decisions, and performing research on the regional system itself. When used in a gaming format, the economic decision-makers represent major corporations that allocate financial resources, operate existing businesses, and exercise the economic power associated with the control of economic assets. Social decision-makers represent population groups in one of three socio-economic classes who reside in different parts of the regional area. Government decision-makers represent local government departments and elected officials who provide either a departmental service or exercise budgetary power. The River Basin Model in its present form is not usable as a predictive device. Rather, its primary function is to replicate the dynamic and interactive decision-making environment that faces persons from all interest groups who are concerned with doing something about water pollution control and the quality of the regional environment.