A Shared Environmental Geographic Information System to Build an Inter-Agency Relationship

An environmental information system (EIS) was developed and implemented for the Bolivian government. The purpose of the system is to support the administration of mining activities on a countrywide scale. The EIS is shared by three government agencies that are collectively responsible for this task. The principal functionality of the system is to predict the impact of past, present and future mining activities on air, surface water and ground water quality and associated risk to human health. The foundation of the system is a geographic database. The database contains information related to mining and the environment (e.g. discharge points and streams). Basic database management functionality (e.g. zooming and layering) is provided by standard, off-the-shelf geographic information system (GIS) software. To supplement the standard GIS functionality, several customized tools were developed. These tools consist of three metal fate and transport models, a risk analysis module and a cost/benefit module. The tools are fully integrated into the graphical user interface (GUI) of the GIS. Sharing a common information system allows the three agencies to centralize and integrate all mining related data, therefore promoting inter-agency relationships. The development of the GIS emphasized the importance of a too often-overlooked component of an information system: the user. An information system is comprised of three parts: (1) data, (2) software and hardware and (3) users trained and experienced in the use of the system. Finding users that are proficient in the use of GIS technology, fate and transport modeling and human health risk analysis was a challenge. Therefore, the system was designed to be as user-friendly as possible and an extensive training program was conducted. Training governmnent employess in the use of the system provided an opportunity to foster additional cooperative relationships between the involved agencies, each of which will tend to focus on one aspect of the EIS' capabilities.