PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Since 1992, the DPE has been managing a 24-hour surface water quality analysis network, comprising of seven analysis stations spread over the whole of the Walloon drainage basin. The analysis stations continuously measure the basic parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, conductivity and turbidity, as well as a series of parameters depending on the station location (chloride, fluoride, etc). The measure of each parameter is stored each 15 minutes in each station. The network also comprises nine sampling stations, with storing possibilities for the samplings which might be analysed later on in laboratory. An efficient monitoring system requires analysis of the quality of surface water, to detect pollution and disseminate the information on a regular basis. There is also a need to validate the data before using them as a decision-making support. However, the amount of available data makes it impossible to validate them manually and quickly: around 5,000 measures a day are provided by the analysis network.
OBJECTIVES
The project has three main objectives: - to enable a dynamic automated management of the measures and alarms, - to optimise the daily management of the analytical data, - to organize the information treatment and dissemination. It would also make it possible to centralise the data, to speed up the decision process and to establish a pre-diagnosis when a problem would arise, to inform the external intervention centres, and to disseminate information to all stakeholders through Internet, both with static or dynamic consultation.
RESULTS
Since 1997, the DPE, in partnership with CEBEDEAU and GIEI, has been developing a computer software able to automatically proceed the analytical findings and the alerts, as well as providing consolidated information to the users. The project consisted of the following phases: - a functional analysis, to define needs; - a statistical analysis, to automatically validate data - a technical analysis, to define and test the hardware and software elements; - AQUAPOL software development, to implement the necessary functions for daily management of the network; - datawarehouse development, to consolidate data from different sources and provide with analytic tools and reports; - web site development, to provide dynamically with analytical validated data; - an integration phase, insuring the link and the succesfull transfer of data between all the components of the system, and including users training. The measures gathered by the control stations are sent electronically to the DGRNE (Directorate General for Natural Resources and Environment) central server. The software is able to manage all the tasks related to the water analysis network. It consists of: - an Oracle database containing the general and analytical data from the network, available to each DPE agent; - a user interface for data viewing and validation. Once validated by the DPE agents, the analytical data are transfered to the DGRNE database; - an automatic archive device for the analytical data; - a multidimensional database, part of DGRNE water datawarehouse; - an internet website provides the larger public with general information and the possibily to question the database online. There was a permanent follow-up of the project, with planning and control of the actions at the different phases, and coordination between the different partners to insure coherence and information exchanges. At each step, technical documentation was produced in order to build a "referent" for users and an evaluation tool for the Heads of project. The project reached its initial objectives. As DGRNE manages other control networks which generate a huge amount of data, the Aquapol software architecture as been developed as a generic one, able to be used for other applications (for example for the stage gauging stations network). Moreover, the Water datawarehouse is a first step towards a “mega datawarehouse”, which will contain an Air and a Waste sector.Since 1997, the DPE, in partnership with CEBEDEAU and GIEI, has been developing a computer software able to automatically proceed the analytical findings and the alerts, as well as providing consolidated information to the users. The project consisted of the following phases: - a functional analysis, to define needs; - a statistical analysis, to automatically validate data - a technical analysis, to define and test the hardware and software elements; - AQUAPOL software development, to implement the necessary functions for daily management of the network; - datawarehouse development, to consolidate data from different sources and provide with analytic tools and reports; - web site development, to provide dynamically with analytical validated data; - an integration phase, insuring the link and the succesfull transfer of data between all the components of the system, and including users training. The measures gathered by the control stations are sent electronically to the DGRNE (Directorate General for Natural Resources and Environment) central server. The software is able to manage all the tasks related to the water analysis network. It consists of: - an Oracle database containing the general and analytical data from the network, available to each DPE agent; - a user interface for data viewing and validation. Once validated by the DPE agents, the analytical data are transfered to the DGRNE database; - an automatic archive device for the analytical data; - a multidimensional database, part of DGRNE water datawarehouse; - an internet website provides the larger public with general information and the possibily to question the database online. There was a permanent follow-up of the project, with planning and control of the actions at the different phases, and coordination between the different partners to insure coherence and information exchanges. At each step, technical documentation was produced in order to build a "referent" for users and an evaluation tool for the Heads of project. The project reached its initial objectives. As DGRNE manages other control networks which generate a huge amount of data, the Aquapol software architecture as been developed as a generic one, able to be used for other applications (for example for the stage gauging stations network). Moreover, the Water datawarehouse is a first step towards a “mega datawarehouse”, which will contain an Air and a Waste sector.
