Understanding Hydrosense outputs and charts

Understanding Hydrosense outputs and charts

The need for Hydrosense module : Mining operations face persistent and costly challenges related to water management that current solutions fail to adequately address. Water damage represents one of the leading causes of loss in civil construction and mining, with major failures potentially costing hundreds of millions in repairs and remediation . Despite these risks, most worksites continue to address drainage issues reactively rather than proactively planning for them.

How it works : Hydro Streams Network in Strayos is generated by Geospatial algorithms which analyzes a Digital Elevation Model(DSM/DTM) to map how water flows downhill, identifying channel networks, and ranking them by complexity. Small, tributary-free streams are Order 1, and the order increases only when two streams of the same order meet.
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Analytics and Chart explanation

1. Stream Composition (The "Branching" Chart)

  • What it shows: The number of small "feeder" streams versus the large "trunk" rivers.
  • Mining Context: High numbers of small streams (Order 1) indicate a complex, highly dissected terrain. For a mine site, this means you’ll need many small culverts and drainage diversions rather than one single large bridge or channel.

2. Length Distribution (The "Water Footprint" Chart)

  • What it shows: The total physical distance covered by each class of river.
  • Mining Context: It identifies how much of the network is "exposed" to your operations. If 80% of your total network length consists of small headwater streams, your environmental management plan needs to focus on many small-scale silt traps rather than one large downstream basin.

3. Horton’s Law (The "Drainage Efficiency" Chart)

  • What it shows: How predictably the water network branches.
  • Mining Context: It tells the engineer how "efficiently" the land drains itself. A straight line indicates a natural, mature system. A broken or jagged line suggests the drainage has been blocked or redirected (perhaps by previous mining waste or natural barriers), which could lead to unexpected ponding or groundwater recharge issues.

4. Mean Length vs. Order (The "Catchment Scale" Chart)

  • What it shows: How far water travels before it hits a major junction.
  • Mining Context: This helps in Time of Concentration calculations. Longer average lengths in higher orders mean that during a storm, water will be delivered to the "exit point" of your mine site in massive, sustained volumes, rather than quick, short bursts.