System taps drinking water data

Washington Department of Health, Division of Drinking Water

As part of an effort to improve information about drinking water in Washington,

Covansys Corp. announced July 30 that it has completed the first phase of

a $3.9 million contract to implement a new system on behalf of Washington

Department of Health's Division of Drinking Water.

The new system, Sentry, is a Web-based, user-friendly application that

is designed to enhance the state's ability to track every registered drinking

water supply in Washington. It replaces an outdated mainframe system.

"The platform was old and outdated," said Clifford Smith, project manager

for Convansys. "The business functionality was just not there." According

to Smith, the implementation of the new system was to modernize the core

system "which happened to be obsolete."

The first phase of the project, completed May 31, consisted of making

an inventory of water facilities as well as capturing water samples from

drinking water suppliers.

The second phase, which is under way, will involve the processing of

the data collected in the first phase of the project. All of the information

will be stored on the new Web-based system.

The new tracking system will "help the state better monitor water data

to the [Environmental Protection Agency]," Smith said. Most of the funding

for Sentry is coming directly from the EPA, Smith added.

"The EPA needed more accurate reporting than what they were getting

with the old system," Smith said.

Sentry is expected to be fully operational by mid-2003.

This year, Covansys successfully implemented a $1.1 million hazardous

waste tracking system for California as well as announcing a $4.2 million

public retirement system for Wisconsin.