Stadtwerk Winterthur: Successful digitization of data handling concerning drinking water quality

Since the end of 2017, Winterthur has been using Limsophy LIMS software to monitor urban water quality. The data handling of drinking water monitoring is thus largely automated, and the valuable drinking water data can be evaluated efficiently and appropriately.

The implementation of the new Limsophy LIMS software at Stadtwerk Winterthur was carried out in the second half of 2017 by AAC Infotray AG. Winterthur is the largest city in Switzerland that obtains its drinking water almost exclusively from untreated groundwater, i.e. without significant amounts of lake water. All measurement data, whose quality has been systematically monitored since 1953, have been imported into Limsophy LIMS. Long-term evaluations of the data provide interesting insights into the development of the water quality.

Most samples from Stadtwerk Winterthur are analysed externally by the Zurich water supply. Since both Zurich and Winterthur process the drinking water data with Limsophy LIMS, the processing procedures could be fully automated. Automation increases the reliability of drinking water controls and accelerates the availability of data. The new software enables the agencies in Winterthur to monitor drinking water quality data at any time and to carry out evaluations flexibly and quickly over a wide range of periods.

On 15 December 2017, the project team celebrated the official handover of the software with a small aperitif at Stadtwerk Winterthur. The city councillor Stefan Fritschi, head of the Department of Technical Operations in Winterthur, was impressed that the rise in the water temperature in groundwater over the last 50 years shows significant warming, a clear indication of global warming.

f.l.t.r. Stefan Fritschi, city councillor Winterthur; Thomas Gmünder, Stadtwerk Winterthur; Katrin Bojarski, project manager AAC Infotray AG