In »Survey and review of existing decision support tools we conducted a comprehensive review and a survey which Decision Support Tools (DST) are currently used in the different case study sites. Out of 36 DST identified to be of higher relevance, 12 were selected for further investigation. The DSTs vary according to scale (field, farm, catchment, regional), pollutants (nutrients, pesticides) and integration of mitigation measures. A cross-country testing of DST revealed, if already existing tools could be used in other European sites or whether inspiration could be drawn from DST used in other case studies.

The FAIRWAY case study sites all face different challenges; therefore, the respective DST matching to scale, pollutant, etc. were tested accordingly.
»Selecting DSTs for evaluation

Results of the evaluations indicate that exchange of DSTs between countries is challenging due to various barriers to use (e.g. different legislation, input data requirements and regional differences in precipitation, soil types). Therefore, most countries already have comparable DSTs designed to address similar problems. During the evaluations, all case studies found inspiration and ideas from other countries’ DSTs which they would consider implementing in their own area. However, they preferred to adopt ideas and either enhance existing or develop new region-specific DSTs, rather than to attempt to modify a DST developed for another country.
For further details have a look at »DST evaluation results and discussion

A model DST that is acceptable to the majority of end users should fulfil most of the criteria summarised in Figure 1.

Figure 1

A DST that fulfils these criteria and can deliver a range of functions is more likely to be successful, as end users prefer to limit the number of DSTs that they need to use. Additionally, good advisory assistance is important. The DST is only as good as the input data, and therefore support and advice from well-educated and communicative, skilful advisors are highly valuable for the end user to make the right decisions.

In a next step a »Decision-support framework for advice, training and communication strategies will be developed to highlight the ways in which DSTs can be applied successfully to establish and improve awareness of diffuse pollution of vulnerable drinking water resources among farmers and other stakeholders.

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There are many decision support tools (DSTs) that can support water management and related decisions at farm, catchment, national, and international levels by farmers, policy makers, waterworks and other stakeholders. The different types of DSTs belong to different “families” for example the farm level tools that are developed to support farmers in production decisions and the catchment level tools that are developed to assist and inform policymakers at different levels on the likely outcomes of projects and policy actions to protect water.

We start by summarising findings from the literature was used to define criteria for what makes a DST within these different domains effective and of economic relevance.
»Previous evaluations of decision support tools
»Criteria for assessing the costs and benefits of using decision support tools

Six farm level DSTs were analyised according to these criteria.

• Mark Online, Denmark
• Plant Protection Online, Denmark
• Düngeplanung, Germany (Lower Saxony)
• Environmental Yardstick, Netherlands
• MANNER-NPK, UK
• Farmscoper, UK

All these DSTs have a factor in common, that the total costs of using the tools are kept low and that this is essential for a tool to be effective. The individual cost related to the use of a DST cannot be quantified as it vary substantial depending on farm scale, management practice, user habits, etc. However it was concluded that the farm level tool can save money for farmers if inputs are reduced, but also that they are important in meeting the cross compliance requirements that are compulsory in all EU countries. The farm level DSTs are not designed to rise environmental awareness as it is of no direct economic return to the farmer.
»Decision support tools at farm level

Two catchment level DSTs

• TargetEconN, Denmark
• Farmscoper, UK

were chosen as examples of catchment scale tools that model cost-effective solutions, that can be used for policy advice and management decisions. The evaluation indicates that significant resources can be saved by using such tools to reveal cost-effective solutions and management practices. The explicit modelling and inclusion of spatial data on agricultural production in both models allows for the identification of mitigation methods that can help to target pollutant reductions whilst not reducing food production. The catchment level models are also capable of assessing the effects of assumptions on the cost-effective solutions, and can therefore be used to assess the uncertainties associated with wrong or limited information.
»Decision support tools at catchment and national levels

Finally, there are DSTs to assess the benefits of water quality protection. Two different approaches are presented, and they can be used for general and more spatially specific assessments and measurements of the value of protection.

• MAES: Mapping and Assessments of Ecosystem Services. This is an European level decision support system (DSS) developed by the EU Commission, JRC (Maes et al 2012). Examples from implementation of a similar ecosystem services assessment tool in the Danish case study area in FAIRWAY, called MAES-DK, are used for illustration, as well as a similar example from the UK (The UK National Ecosystem Assessment, UK NEA (Bateman et al., 2011)).
• Meta analyses (benefit transfer) of valuation studies of water quality improvements: Two examples were chosen for illustration, namely:
  - An international groundwater valuation study applying meta-analysis (Brouwer and Neverre, 2018).
  - A Danish meta-analysis based on valuation studies from the Nordic countries, valuing water quality improvements using the Water Framework Directive classification of ecological status. Structure of the deliverable

The benefits measured by these methods can be used to make cost-benefit analyses of protection or other policy scenarios and decisions.
»Decision support tools for assessments of benefits

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Decision Support Tool Framework: https://www.dstframework.com/
The Decision Support Tool Framework is hosted on a separate server.

 

Short video introduction to the FAIRWAY Decision Support Tool Framework.

 

Introductory leaflet to the contents and use of the decision support tool framework.

In this section of FAIRWAYiS we build on »Survey and review of existing decision support tools, »Evaluation of decision support tools and »Assessments of costs and benefits using decision support tools to develop a web-based framework that enables users to select decision support tools most suited to their needs.
»Aims, preparatory work and methodology

The Decision Support Framework catalogues and describes 30 decision support tools (DST) used in the FAIRWAY case studies for optimal nitrate and pesticide use. It is a a web-based, interactive user interface that allows the user to compare functionality and technical aspects of different DSTs. The framework also includes information sheets with links and contact details for key workers involved in their use and development.
»Structure of the Decision Support Framework

The Framework identifies differences in presentation and technical working between DSTs enabling the sharing of information to encourage development of existing and new DSTs. It allows trade-offs with other environmental issues to be taken advantage of. The web-based system can be maintained in the future by integrating improvements of existing tools and updating the database with new tools as they become available.
»Discussion, recommendations and conclusions

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