Focus on Water Quality 

KISTERS AG (Germany) is expanding its WISKI software substantially to include essential components: the measuring data management system of the Aachen-based software firm for water management, now processes sampling data (metadata) and the accompanying physico-chemical water quality information along with the usual hydrological values. Governmental authorities, water boards and research facilities will greatly benefit from this development. With the expansion of the KiWQM water quality module, WISKI is now a communal database for different departments, which enables to have a full picture of the state of the water and efficiently steer the data management processes.

WISKI is established in the market as an information system for water management. With the expansion of the measuring data management as regards the input, management and analysis of water quality data, WISKI has increased its field of operation. A major plus is the correct assignment of the confidential water quality information which includes the concentration of pollutants, amount of bacteria, oxygen content, conductivity or pH values to the continuously captured hydrologic and meteorological data; such as levels, flow velocity, rainfall or temperature. Quantitative and qualitative data from surface or groundwater can be assessed together and derived indicators, for example, loads can be calculated.

Hydrologic values are continuously collected, while the chemical water quality parameters from the taken samples are only updated after analysis in the laboratory, so thus are “delayed” in being calculated in the measuring data management system. Despite this time delay, the WISKI water quality module is able to allocate the hydrologic measuring value findings of the test analysis to validate the data automatically and to calculate the resulting correlations.  

National, regional and local institutions with separate departments for hydrology and water quality now have the chance with WISKI to manage and assess quantitative and qualitative water data in a single and communally-used database application. Clearly-defined usage, simplified data exchange with faster and more efficient work processes ensures a holistic view of water as a medium.

It is possible to update the software even further with KiECO components and also reflect the ecological aspects. The water analysis is supplemented by biological data from field studies. Taxonomies are available to classify the observed flora and fauna. Users then have the possibility to come to an overall conclusion about the water quality.