Loyalist Township Adopts WaterTrax to Proactively Manage Their Increasing Water Quality Information
WaterTrax makes reporting so much easier and faster.
Loyalist Township is a small progressive water utility located on the shores of Lake Ontario, from which the Township takes its water supply. The Township’s water and wastewater systems serve more than 10,500 residents.
The Challenge
Facing stringent new regulatory requirements for monitoring and reporting, the Township implemented the WaterTrax Utility Service. “We recognized that the amount of water quality information was on the rise, and were looking for ways to manage it without diverting staff time from more important work,” says Frank Reinholz, P.Eng., Assistant Township Engineer.
The Solution
Loyalist is making extensive use of WaterTrax’s Utility File Upload feature to integrate existing data collection procedures with new data management practices. Water quality and plant operating information is collected monthly in Excel spreadsheets at the treatment plants, then uploaded to WaterTrax. “The spreadsheet upload is running smoothly, and has allowed us to improve our records management practices without changing the procedures of our field staff,” says Mr. Reinholz. “The integrated database means that we only have one place to go to find up-to-date information from the labs, the
field and the plants.”
Their regulator recently scaled back the quarterly public reporting requirements, yet the Township is maintaining quarterly reporting to Council. M.J. Merritt, P.Eng., Utilities Engineer, says “we believe that its important to keep Council fully informed, regardless of the minimum regulatory requirements. And besides, WaterTrax makes reporting so much easier and faster that there is no real burden to us in reporting more frequently.”
The Benefits
WaterTrax is not only helping Loyalist meet its commitment to provide “safe, good tasting drinking water”, but it is also handling quality and operating data for the Township’s three wastewater systems. “From the start, we recognized that WaterTrax could help us with wastewater as well as drinking water data management,” said Mr. Reinholz. “Having one information system for both water and wastewater brings us further time savings and efficiencies.” After a year of use Loyalist is pleased to be embarking on its second subscription year. “We believe in the WaterTrax approach to records management,” says Mr. Reinholz.
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