Attenuation, SuDS and pumped defences, proven to hold back a design storm
Commissioning software for stormwater and flood defence schemes where attenuation tanks, penstocks and flood pumping stations all have to prove out before the next design storm arrives.
Stormwater and flood management schemes combine attenuation tanks, sustainable drainage (SuDS) features, penstocks and flap valves, and often a pumping station, all designed around a specific storm return period and needing to be proven mechanically sound and hydraulically effective before the scheme is adopted. Deskely holds every tank, penstock, valve and pump in one register with the wet-test and adoption gates built in.
- Assets
- Attenuation tanks, SuDS features, penstocks, pumps
- Test
- Dry run, wet commissioning, storm-response proving
- Interface
- Watercourse, surface water sewer, flood defence line
- Gate
- Adoption and flood-defence sign-off
Choose your project type
The problem
A flood scheme is judged on the one storm it has not yet seen, and a spreadsheet cannot show whether the penstocks will actually close when they are needed.
A stormwater or flood scheme is civil attenuation structures, SuDS features like swales and permeable paving, mechanical penstocks and flap valves, and sometimes a flood pumping station, each built by different contractors against a hydraulic model rather than a single mechanical spec.
When penstock operation tests, attenuation volume surveys and flood pump duty tests sit in separate contractor sheets, nobody can confirm before adoption whether the scheme will actually perform against the design storm it was built to withstand.
Deskely tags every tank, penstock, valve and pump individually, so storm-response readiness is reported from proven operation tests rather than assumed from a general practical completion certificate.
Setting up the register
Attenuation structures, penstocks and flood pumps are tagged assets matched to the hydraulic model and drainage strategy.
Drainage strategy drawings, hydraulic model outputs and equipment lists are parsed into a reviewed register, so every attenuation cell, penstock, flap valve and flood pump carries its design storm reference and its as-built dimensions from day one.
Dry commissioning checklists, wet commissioning sequences and storm-response proving templates — penstock closure time, pump start levels, overflow performance — are defined once per asset type and instantiated across every structure.
SuDS features such as swales, basins and permeable surfaces are held as their own record set with their own as-built survey and maintenance access requirements, distinct from the mechanical and civil structures.
Execution
Penstock proving, pump testing and storm-response simulation are gated structure by structure before the scheme is adopted.
Penstocks and flap valves are functionally tested for closure time and seal integrity under simulated flow, with results captured against the specific structure rather than a general statement that the flood defence line is complete.
Flood pumping stations follow the same duty/standby proving discipline as any pump station, with the addition of storm-response simulation confirming the pumps activate correctly at the design trigger level.
Vendor punch from the civil contractor, the penstock supplier and the pump OEM is logged at the specific asset, so adoption of one section is not blocked by an unrelated open item elsewhere in the scheme.
Adoption and flood-defence sign-off
The scheme is adopted from proven storm response, not from a hydraulic model that was never tested against the built asset.
Adoption and flood-defence sign-off draw on the same penstock, pump and attenuation records built during commissioning, so the evidence the adopting authority or flood risk management team requires is an export rather than a rebuild.
The handover pack for the maintaining authority includes as-built drainage strategy drawings, penstock test records and pump duty curves keyed to the register, ready for the maintenance team from the day the scheme is adopted.
Every signature carries a name, role and timestamp, which is what the local flood authority and the scheme's design engineer expect before a flood defence structure is declared operational rather than provisionally complete.
The dossier
What has to be proven before a scheme meets its storm.
A flood defence or attenuation scheme is designed around a storm return period it may never be tested against in service, so adoption depends entirely on commissioning records proving mechanical soundness and hydraulic capacity in advance, not on operating history.
Attenuation tank structural and watertightness record
The attenuation tank structure is sound and passes a watertightness test before it is connected to the drainage network.
Completed before the tank is tied into upstream and downstream pipework.
Penstock and flap valve function test
Penstocks and flap valves open, close and seal correctly under manual and, where fitted, automatic actuation.
Tested during wet commissioning of the control structure.
SuDS feature performance inspection record
Swales, basins and permeable surfaces drain to the design infiltration or discharge rate without ponding beyond spec.
Inspected after a wetting-in period and, where possible, a rainfall event.
Flood pumping station duty and flood-level test
Pumps start automatically at the design flood trigger level and achieve rated discharge capacity.
Tested during wet commissioning of the pumping station.
Hydraulic modelling verification record
As-built levels and capacities match the hydraulic model the design storm return period is based on.
Reconciled once all structures and pipework are as-built surveyed.
Adoption and flood-defence sign-off certificate
Every structure and control device is proven mechanically sound and hydraulically effective for the design storm.
Signed by the adopting authority before the scheme is taken over.
How it runs
From penstock testing to scheme adoption.
Flood schemes reward a register that ties every structure back to the design storm it is meant to withstand, because a scheme is only ever properly tested once it is already needed.
- 01
Model the scheme by structure
Attenuation cells, SuDS features, penstocks and flood pumps modelled as assets tied to the hydraulic model.
- 02
Parse the drainage strategy
Drainage strategy drawings and hydraulic model outputs drafted into a reviewed register with design data attached.
- 03
Template storm-response tests
Penstock closure, pump duty and storm-response simulation tests defined once, instantiated across every structure.
- 04
Gate adoption on proven response
Adoption sign-off reported from proven storm-response records, with punch tracked to closure per structure.
FAQ
Questions about Stormwater and flood management scopes.
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