From wildlife to climate change, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) focuses on creating a liveable, inclusive and sustainable Victoria with thriving natural environments.

It also manages the use and flow of the state’s water, including its groundwater, catchments and waterways, and its water saving and flood management plans. The Victorian Water Register, a public register of water-related entitlements in the state, is part of this.

A lot of the data in the Register can be accessed online, which is updated on average 150 times a day. When updating data on risk of spills, market prices, seasonal determinations and trade limits, it was clear that consumers needed to know as early as possible, preferably in real-time.

As important as it is to recycle water where possible, so too was it important that the DELWP used what it already had. Using the Register’s existing investment in backend technologies, alongside cutting-edge, highly reliable and scalable serverless technologies, the team developed mobile applications and a public API (application programming interface).

water pouring through at a dam in Victoria
two people working on the app

The API looks at existing backend services and creates notifications (in the form of Webhooks) on deltas or receives events in real-time from the backend system.

 

“The mobile app and API are the product of a fantastic partnership between the teams at DELWP and Datacom. We’re very excited for the future for the mobile and API platform.”

Naomi Douglas, water knowledge and insights manager, DELWP

 

The mobile app’s backend then receives these notifications and, based on the user’s saved preferences, sends push notifications to the user’s mobile phone or smart watch.

The mobile app also shows a summary of the current state of the water market, and, if users wish to dive deeper, they can visit the Register’s website to learn more.

The app is an entirely new channel and type of communication for users of the Victorian Water Register. The open API allows third parties, such as water brokers, to view historic data and build their own integrations, including software applications that are programmed to perform tasks (bots) for programs like Slack, to automated trading.

The secure, scalable and flexible platform also allows the DELWP to develop and grow the functionality of it over time, helping to meet the needs of its consumers and provide real-time data for them.

 

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