Christian Dunn

It's time for a new look at water testing.

TestWater is a brand new application built to analyse test results based on rules to provide detailed recommendations and a customised report.

My previous testing application, WaterTest, has been very successful but it's limitation was that it was developed with rules set by me. While suitable these were not flexible for other regions or climates and while it did calculate LSI it did not calculate it more accurately than 1 decimal place. There are also more factors your pool technician takes into account when testing your water than just the water results. These attributes such as the look of the water can have a large impact on the recommendations provided.

The problem with all water test applications is they fail in a range of cases due to technical imprecision or qualification problems.

The biggest fault with testing is qualification and this is where TestWater begins. We have our results, but what questions do you ask the customer to ensure you offer the best advice?
Is it hot this week? do they have a salt chlorinator? is the pool green? Each of these questions actually has an impact on the recommendations for treating a swimming pool. What are the recommendations for the water in your area? Does the tap water affect pH or TDS?

The aim of TestWater is to take your water test results and apply the appropriate criteria and qualifications to give you the same quality of recommendation you would get in a pool shop.

Due to the flexibility of rules we believe this program should be able to be applied to testing any water source as long as suitable rules are created. If you have suggestions or recommendations for changes to testwater to provide more testing flexibility let us know.

**Rules
All users can build up to 20 rules, download free rules or purchase rules for testing.
Pool Technicians, Pool Shops, Chemists, Water Specialists can create rules for sharing or selling.
Rules can be locked or editable depending on the creator's choice.

**Specifications
The next generation application is .NET based and provides one click installation, automatic updates and works online or offline.
It calculates the Langelier Saturation Index using complex mathematical analysis rather than league tables to improve accuracy and displays the results visually.
It will perform Qualitative and Quantitative analysis of information based on rules that apply to selected options.
It has the capability to create, import or export these rules. Licencing controls the ability to modify rules. Rules files are in XML but content is encrypted for security.
Data is saved, shared and stored using XML.

Alpha Release: v1.0.0 2/1/2012

• Cannot Save Test Results
• No rules import\export
• No complete test rules available yet
• Help website and website links not yet available

Release Candidate: v1.50.0 23/1/2012

• Sample Rules included
• run tests and generate reports
• calculate langelier saturation index
• create/edit up to 20 rules
• customise test reports

TestWater has now had a soft launch.
The latest version is now available online at www.testwater.com.au
Development work is continuing...