Clean drinking water is often something we take for granted. When we fill our coffee makers in the morning, when we ask for a water at the local eatery, or when we rinse after brushing our teeth, we trust that the water we consume is safe. This security doesn’t come easily. Behind the scenes service companies such as Hampstead Area Water Services Co (HAWSCO) are continuously monitoring water supplies.Certified water operators are required by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to provide routine monitoring, testing, and sampling of well water supplies for communities and organizations to name a few. Add up a number of businesses, homes, developments, and organizations that use well water and it’s easy to see that this is a large task spread out over a large area.THE PROBLEM:Routine maintenance inspections were reported on paper for each water station, meter readings calculated manually by the operator who relied on previous written reports data.Reports were then brought back to the office, manually entered into an excel file, and brought back to the water station for the next succession of reporting.This redundant process was not only cumbersome but lacked any user validation or timeliness.THE GOAL:Develop a custom app that would automate calculations, populate real-time data to a central database, and provide administrators instant access to the reports.THE SOLUTION:The HAWSCO team utilized a new web-based coding tool known as Appsheet to develop a custom app that works on the water operators' iPads. The app integrates with online databases to produce real-time data for all of the water systems. In addition, the app sends reports by email to Charlie when they are submitted by the water operators performing the maintenance inspections. In addition, the sharing capabilities of the app allows other office personnel to access the database for additional billing and reporting to NHDES.ICING ON THE CAKE:HAWSCO started using the app and realized that the Ipads combined with the new app could also be used to instantly submit photos of potential issues to the manager allowing for pre-emptive maintenance versus reactive maintenance.WHAT WERE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING THIS NEW SYSTEM?As with implementing most process changes involving technology there is always a learning curve… Both with the users, the creators of the system, and the hardware running the system. We’ve experienced a few bugs and other hiccups, but overall the application has provided numerous benefits.HOW HAS THE APP CHANGED THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS?To give some background, the way we used to perform station maintenance reports at our water system facilities included handwriting onto paper reports that were left in binders at the stations. These binders were subject to moisture, chemicals, etc. and did not fare well. We then had to periodically bring the paperwork to the office to be scanned, entered, etc. and then brought back to the facility binders. With the new system, our water operators utilize iPads to type in their reports which then automatically update to the office in a spreadsheet and also in graphical form that all employees can easily access anywhere with an internet connection.WHERE DO YOU SEE THIS APP GOING NEXT?One of the avenues we plan to utilize this system is within our contracted services division, HAWSCO. We plan on providing customer portals on the www.nhwaterservices.com website where the customers can log in and have up to date reports regarding their facilities. We also anticipate generating custom reports in the future.WHAT WERE SOME UNEXPECTED BENEFITS TO USING THIS NEW APP?One of the greatest benefits has been the ability to deploy updated maintenance sheets real time rather than printing paper copies and having the operators bring them to the individual facilities. We’ve also found unique ways to incorporate new reports that we previously would hand write as well.For more information on water operations in NH, certified water operators in NH, or the app utilized by Hampstead Area Water Services Co. to report on community water systems data, visit www.nhwaterservices.com, call 603-362-5333, or email us at operations@hampsteadwater.com.