Why effective water data management is a competitive advantage for miners

Water management is a critical component of a company’s licence to operate. In an era of increased scrutiny by investors and the public, a demonstrable water management strategy contributes to a company’s ESG initiatives. Effectively managing water resources helps miners maintain an environmental licence to operate and supports specific licence conditions within their regulatory constraints.

How can you tell if you’re compliant?

Stuart van de Water, acQuire’s Operations Manager – EnviroSys, says the growing demand for better water management puts enormous pressure on environmental managers and scientists.

“With information coming from so many sources, it’s time consuming to transform raw data into business-ready reports,” Stuart says.

“Often, it’s hard to know whether the data received is complete or even if it’s accurate. Even the simplest question, “Are we compliant?” can take environmental advisors a week or more to answer.”

Regulatory obligations may differ from region to region, but modern mining companies deal with a lot of diversity when it comes to water management. Areas where miners commonly have water management programs that involve sampling and/or monitoring include:

• Surface water
• Groundwater
• Treated water
• Potable water
• Process water
• Wastewater

Why is environmental data management so important?

Without a data management system in place, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, for environmental teams to do their job efficiently and with certainty.  

“Being able to trust the data is critical because audits are frequently conducted against Australian and international standards,” Stuart says.

“Data integrity must be maintained to the highest levels, a daunting task if there’s no central repository to capture all water management data.

“Being able to trace that data to its original source is an essential part of water management governance, especially if it has been transformed in the time between capturing and reporting.”

Whether miners are tracking water consumption, monitoring water quality in creeks, rivers and dams, or taking grab samples from pits and dams, a single source of truth for all environmental information provides a competitive advantage – and peace of mind.

“Good environmental data management is invaluable for operational support and high-level modelling used in business decisions and policy making. Knowing you can easily report against your data is highly critical,” Stuart says.

EnviroSys – environmental data management for mining companies

In late 2019, acQuire completed their acquisition of EnviroSys, an environmental data management system that helps mining companies manage a variety of environmental monitoring aspects, with a big focus on water-related programs. Activities like water quality monitoring or water programs incorporate regular field readings and laboratory analysis. EnviroSys has been used extensively in managing water for water utilities which ensures the EnviroSys technology delivers a best-practice water management solution to its mining customers.

EnviroSys features realtime functionality to capture and display information for various water quality and usage monitoring programs. Miners can:

• Capture field readings directly into EnviroSys through a mobile app or a web interface
• Automatically load chemical analysis or laboratory data into EnviroSys from labs
• Automatically load water monitoring data from devices/loggers in the field in near-realtime.

Sustainability Reporting

With EnviroSys, miners have access to timely and comprehensive reporting on water efficiency. Water use is graphed alongside, and in conjunction with, land, meteorological and greenhouse gas data to provide a summary of important sustainability parameters. Miners can set guideline limits based on internal and external standards and obligations to monitor compliance and be alerted by SMS or email if these are exceeded.

Visualizing Information

Miners also have the benefit of visual representation of their water data. This includes:

• Realtime dashboards configured to help monitor water quality and quantity, or any type of water-related data
• Fast compilation of regular reports required for Environmental Officers and for use in annual reporting
• Water balance data to help predict future water use at a site to meet specified targets.

acQuire’s EnviroSys software is focused on quality and compliance. It allows you to store, manage, and access any type of environmental data, whether it’s collected from a lab or logger, out in the field or in the office. EnviroSys provides complete transparency and ensures you can always answer the question, “Are we compliant right now?”.

For more information about water management for mining

acQuire provides the big picture of your environmental data for water management in mining. For more information about how EnviroSys can help miners monitor and manage a variety of water aspects and programs, get in touch with us.