2017 AQUARIUS Impact Award Winners Announced in Celebration of Earth Day
Aquatic Informatics recognizes the outstanding success of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in using AQUARIUS to create timely, accurate environmental insight.
Vancouver, Canada, April 21, 2017 – Aquatic Informatics Inc., a global leader in providing innovative software for water data management and analysis, is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 AQUARIUS Impact Awards in honor of Earth Day 2017.
As the global community celebrates Earth Day, Aquatic Informatics sought to recognize environmental professionals whose work is dedicated to protecting and managing the earth’s water. Ed Quilty, President and CEO at Aquatic Informatics shared, “It’s a privilege to announce the winners for this year’s AQUARIUS Impact Awards. The two winners were chosen from submissions around the globe, and I would like to personally congratulate Dawn Hintz and Matthew Nicolai for their outstanding achievements. These professionals are working every day to monitor water and deliver timely, accurate insight to support the optimal use of limited water resources.”
In coordination with World Water Day on March 22, 2017, award applicants were invited to describe how working smarter with AQUARIUS has made an impact on their work, organization, or community. The success stories of the 2017 AQUARIUS Impact Awards winners epitomize the outstanding effort and dedication of all water professionals as they work to ensure a secure water future.
2017 AQUARIUS Impact Award Winners
Susquehanna River Basin Commission
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (Commission) began using AQUARIUS software in 2010 when the Commission initiated a continuous, real-time water quality monitoring network throughout the Susquehanna River basin. The network consists of 65+ real-time monitoring stations collecting water quality data at 15-minute intervals. These data are automatically pulled into AQUARIUS and are run through a series of automatic data corrections, reducing the amount of time staff need to spend correcting the data for equipment and fouling drifts and probe malfunctions. Beyond the automatic data corrections, staff perform manual data corrections to water quality data to have the most accurate data available for data analysis.
While the original intent of the network was to monitor surface water streams for impacts from unconventional natural gas drilling, other uses for the data quickly became apparent. The Commission has used the data to test sediment and turbidity relationships, review water quality impacts from water withdraws, look at water quality trends, and determine BMP effectiveness. In addition to the work completed by Commission staff, other agencies and academics have used the data to complete research on climate change, road salt impacts, and numerous other things. AQUARIUS allows for all the continuous data to be stored in one location, aggregated (hourly, daily, monthly) to the level needed by staff, and easily exported to statistical models for data analysis. Within the AQUARIUS software, staff have built rating curves for discharge, but also for phosphorus and chloride using continuous turbidity and specific conductance, respectively.
– Dawn Hintz, Susquehanna River Basin Commission
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
I work with the Salish and Kootenai tribes located on the Flathead Reservation in Western Montana. Our department, Water Management, has been using the AQUARIUS database for almost a year now and I am very pleased with how it has transformed the way we do things here. So many changes have already taken place since I started here last March and I see us moving in a positive direction ever since we acquired AQUARIUS. I went from learning how to use a simple Excel-style format to using the fantastic real-time database. The wave of the future is here and I am very proud that our department has taken the initiative to move forward and not be left behind in the stone age. Compared to the other database we were using prior to AQUARIUS, we can now easily correct and quality control our data and our rating curves are developed without the hassle of pencil shavings. Deriving statistics within each location and looking up real-time results is pretty neat stuff. All this saves us time, which of course in return will save us money in the long run.
– Matthew Nicolai, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation
AQUARIUS is the world’s preferred software to acquire, process, model, and publish water data. Over 500 organizations in over 50 countries trust AQUARIUS to produce accurate water information in real-time. A modern design delivers the latest water science in an intuitive experience. Simplified data management, analysis, and information sharing enable better decisions for the equitable use, sustainable management, and protection of the world’s precious water resources. Water professionals looking to better manage growing volumes of water quality or quantity monitoring data are invited to watch the 3-minute AQUARIUS video or read additional customer success stories at aquaticinformatics.com.
About Aquatic Informatics Inc.
Aquatic Informatics™ provides software solutions that address critical water data management and analysis challenges for the rapidly growing environmental monitoring industry. Aquatic Informatics is focused on providing solutions to a range of different customer groups including federal, state/provincial or local government departments, hydropower operators, mining companies, academic groups, and consulting organizations who collect, manage, and process large volumes of water quality or quantity data.