Project Background
Rivers and weather events in the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA) are extreme. Battling with streamflow networks that can take out entire roads & rail coupled with daily rainfall events which can range from 20mm-+100mm in the wet season, reliable early warning systems are critical for mine site operation and safety.
EWS Australia has installed and configured a network of Flood Warning for Pilbara customers to help optimise safety/evacuation procedures and ensure mine site production is not unnecessarily hindered. High intensity rainfall events have in the past caused dam overflows, river swelling and the inundation of access roads and rail networks in the surrounding areas. It was therefore critical to ensure a suitable, real-time monitoring system was in place to provide early warning alarms for both mine camp evacuation and temporary railway closure due to drainage road culverts becoming fully submerged and impassable
Solutions
Numerous water level monitoring sites were installed on reactive tributaries with measurement technologies ranging from Constant Flow Bubblers, EWS Vented Water Level Pressure Sensors, to radar and trail camera setups. Additional Tipping Bucket Rain Gauges were installed in surrounding areas to provide more accurate and localised meteorological information to customers.
For installed monitoring devices multiple alarms were configured corresponding to critical river water levels (1, 2 & 3m in some cases) and high intensity rainfall events (+20mm). This then provided the necessary early warning for the customer to make critical safety and operational decisions based on real-time environmental data
Outcomes & Benefits
Having reliable, consistent and full coverage of a Flood Warning network is critical for mine site decision making and the 15min logging, 15min data transmission rate of the Iridium certified EWS devices ensures this. With zero latency, 99.98% data upload guarantee and unmatched 24/7 technical support for devices, critical Flood Warning networks are in good hands.
With the ability to install low environmental impact monitoring devices in sensitive areas and multiple alarm levels able to be tiered/setup for different personnel (SMS, email) EWS devices and the Orion iO dashboard is now an integral part of this Flood Warning network and mine site operation.
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