The water resource applications of GIS will also need to be multifaceted. Many of the problems involve interactions between the hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere. The solutions must serve competing groups of users with many of the important hydrologic processes having local, regional, national, and global dimensions. The management of water resources requires a wide range of spatial data from hydrography and water distribution and collection systems representing the status of water resources to phenomena influencing the quality and movement of water such as terrain, climate, soils, and land use.

Representation and analysis of water-related phenomena by GIS facilitates their management. GIS applications that are of particular importance to water industry professionals are: mapping, monitoring, modelling and maintenance. These four Ms define some of the most

important activities for efficient management of water, wastewater, and storm water systems and are referred to as the “4M applications”.

The number of GIS applications is limited only by our own imagination and the availability of data. For instance, the municipal applications alone are numerous, including:

1. Water, wastewater, and storm water operations Comprehensive

2. planning

3. Vulnerability assessment and security planning

4. Permitting and code enforcement

5. Building inspections

6. Zoning

7. Parcel mapping

8. Pavement management

9. Tracking customer complaints

10. Grant applications

11. Routing

GIS provides a spatial approach to organizing information about customers and the assets of a water or sewer utility, such as pipes, hydrants pumps, and treatment equipment. GIS applications help a utility to analyse the spatial information about its customers and assets to improve planning, management, operation, and maintenance of its facilities. Municipalities and utilities that have successfully implemented GIS have seen dramatic improvements in the way in which data are retrieved, analysed, and maintained.