Dragan Milicevic

Analytical Support for Integrated Water Resources Management: A New Method for Addressing Spatial and Temporal Variability

This paper discusses the development of an analytical support system for implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) process. The system integrates four analytical tools: (i) geographic information system; (ii) system dynamics simulation; (iii) agent-based model; and (iv) hydrologic simulation. The choice of tools is driven by their ability to (a) respond to the main requirements of the IWRM and (b) explicitly describe system behaviour as function of time and location in space. The system dynamics simulation captures temporal dynamics in an integrated feedback model that includes sectors representing physical and socioeconomic system components. Management policies established in the participatory decision making environment are easily investigated through the simulation of system behaviour. Agent-based model is used to analyze spatial dynamics of complex physical-social-economic-biologic system. The IWRM support system is tested using data from the Upper Thames River Watershed, Ontario, Canada, in collaboration with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority.

Application of Macrobiological Methods in the Settlement Wastewater Treatment

The approach to solving the problem of water protection is changing in the world, and the opinion that wastewater is a resource instead of waste is now prevalent with research being directed in the direction of simpler, energetically more rational and more economically acceptable technological solutions for wastewater treatment, primarily in the field of biotechnology, especially there where favorable climate conditions and the use of large land areas are available. The mechanism of wastewater treatment by macrobiological methods is simple and is reduced to extraction of certain substances from wastewater directly with plants or through the food chain with animals and their concentration into macrobiological living stations. Macrobiological living stations are extracted from the water in the form of biomass by simple mechanical methods, and in that way the final removal of nutrients and other substances from the water is completed. The produced biomass can be used as food or feed, with mandatory sanitary inspection, or as an emergent in biomass production. This paper presents the principles of application of macro biologic methods in wastewater treatment and the experience gained through the research at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Niš and at the waste water treatment facilities in Sokobanja.

Agent-based assessment of stormwater re-use potential of low-impact development control facilities at the site of Vlasina Lake, Serbia

Vlasina Lake in south-east Serbia is classified as an Area of Distinct Land Use and, as such, is subject to high environmental protection standards applied in the Master Plan. Two open channels for stormwater and sediment transportation to two large detention basins with pumping stations for water evacuation into the lake were envisaged in the Master Plan. In the preliminary design, the stormwater system was quite different: wherever possible, on-site natural features were used for allocation of ponds, and drainage channels were led through existing road culverts. The applied design concept has been low impact development (LID), which led to potential blue-green corridors, recognized by project stakeholders. The paper studies the possibility of using ponds as a key element of both the LID concept and the blue-green corridors approach. For that purpose, an initial Vlasina Lake site agent-based simulation model has been created. A realistic physical model is included, and simulation results for two hypothetical climatic and socio-economic scenarios are presented. From the experience in creating the agent-based model, and based on the simulation results, recommendations are given for further work. It is shown that ponds have potential for the investigated water re-use purposes.