CATCH: decision support for stakeholders in catchment areas

Policy proposals for the management of water resources need to take into account two emerging themes: public involvement in the development of resource use policy and water management on a catchment level. The CATCH-model, a decision support system for catchment-based water management, builds on the use of ‘discourse and deliberation’ within stakeholder groups to define relevant socio-economic parameters and the relationships between these parameters. The sets of matrices that describe these parameters and their interrelation serve as the basis for evaluation of alternative management strategies and evaluation of specific measures for improving water quality.