Task-Oriented GIS for Water Management at Taipei Water Resource District

Taipei Water Management Office (TWMO) is one of the eleven district offices in Water Resource Agency. Water management is the top priority to be pursued both on daily management and long-term management at TWMO. There are five departments to perform a wide range of tasks in addition to water management. All management prescriptions are simply to provide sustainable clean water for about four millions population in Taipei. TWMO has gone through 16 years experience of development and implementation of GIS in water management. The objectives of this paper are to provide the major ingredients of successful and operational GIS for water management. The five departments at TWMO have performed tasks such as city planning, construction management, forest management, land use enforcement, soil and water conservation, water quality monitoring and protection, garbage collection, and sewage disposal management. Data base creation was one of the major jobs to be done. Update of data base has to be done on a daily basis. Computers, its peripheral, and software are essential for GIS developed at TWMO. Know-how and technical skill on computers and GIS for every technician are contributing significantly such that GIS can be implemented on most of jobs performed at TWMO. Implementations of GIS have been pursued by application modules on a task-oriented basis. Application modules are simple, easy to use, and menu driven with only Chinese. Web-based and mobile GIS are the new components that make water management at TWMO stay on the right course. To solve problems encountered in water management by GIS at TWMO can be easily and user-friendly may be the most important experience.