An intelligent decision support system for assisting industrial wastewater management

Sustainable economic development requires the inclusion of environmental factors in the decision making procedure. The generic objective of the Environmentally Sensitive Investment System (ESIS) Project is to provide industry and governmental departments or agencies with a tool to assess the technical and economic implications of capital-intensive projects, in response to stated environmental policies. More specifically, the ESIS prototype helps to find wastewater management alternatives that meet given environmental regulatory standards in a technologically sound and cost-efficient manner. The use of this decision support system will enhance the ability of managers and planners to explore the quantitative implications of a wide range of options. ESIS incorporates a combination of artificial intelligence and operations research techniques, database management and visualization tools, integrated under a graphical user interface. The ESIS prototype runs on top-of-the-line personal computers.