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In many arid and semi-arid regions agriculture is the main user of GW, causing problems with the quantity and quality of water, but there are few institutional policies and regulations governing sustainable GW exploitation. The authors suggest an integrated methodology for enabling local GW management, capable of combining the need for GW protection with socio-economic and behavioural determinants of GW use. In the proposed tool, integration is reinforced by the inclusion of multiple stakeholders, and the use of Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) to simulate and explore these stakeholders’ attitude to GW exploitation and their responses to the introduction of new protection policies. BBNs and hydrological system properties are integrated in a GIS-based decision support system - GeSAP - which can elaborate and analyse scenarios concerning the pressure on GW due to exploitation for irrigation, and the effectiveness of protection policies, taking into account the level of consensus. In addition, the GIS interface makes it possible to spatialize the information and to investigate model results.

The paper presents the results of an experimental application of the GeSAP tool to support GW planning and management in the Apulia Region (Southern Italy). To evaluate the actual usability of the GeSAP tool, case study applications were performed involving the main experts in GW protection and the regional decision-makers. Results showed that GeSAP can simulate farmers’ behaviour concerning the selection of water sources for irrigation, allowing evaluation of the effectiveness of a wide range of strategies which impact water demand and consumption. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.