WISKI A BIG ADVANTAGE IN EARLY FLOOD WARNING
Continuously improving, South Nation Conservation staff has implemented a new tool that allows them to provide early-warning to residents of the 4,200 square-km jurisdiction.
The short version of the program name is easy to remember: WISKI. The acronym stands for Water Information System Kisters.
Kisters is the name of the software company offering the program in question to companies and organizations around the world. In the case of flood forecasting, the emphasis is on speed in capturing relevant data.
Water level graphs are now being updated automatically on a daily basis and the information is available to basin residents on the SNC web site: www.nation.on.ca.
More specifically, daily stream flow, water level, and precipitation information is available online at: http://www.nation.on.ca/water/watershed-conditions/flood-forecasting-warning/current-watershed-conditions.
The flood warning system is two-fold: To provide advance notice of flood conditions to member municipalities and the public, so that preparation measures can be taken to minimize the impact on people and property; and to provide on-going updates of flood forecasts and watershed conditions during a flood event.
WISKI also helps South Nation to perform a daily planning cycle in house to ensure that flood potential can be identified in a timely manner. This includes an analysis of the following parameters: Daily calculation of 7:00 a.m. flows; daily check of forecasts for weather conditions, precipitation and temperatures; and snow and ice survey data.
“Not only does WISKI provide a timely service to watershed residents, the automatic updates save about an hour a day in staff time,” said SNC technician Simon Nolan. “The graphs are accessible through the usual web browsers or phone devices.”
Nolan said WISKI has tremendous potential to eventually merge water quantity, quality, fisheries and forestry data. It also allows easy analysis of historical data for research projects.
WISKI is a timely addition to SNC’s long-standing flood forecasting and warning system that informs municipalities, news media, emergency response services and the Ministry of Natural Resources of conditions in the watershed.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Simon Nolan, 877-984-2948 ext. 309, snolan@nation.on.ca.