Afflux offers advice and training within the stormwater industry to promote sustainable practices and design, and to facilitate practical implementation of stormwater management solutions. Advice includes preliminary advice on projects and oftentimes the production of Due Diligence reports on land purchases to ensure informed decisions regarding drainage and flooding.
With a wealth of industry experience, including Stormwater Victoria and Stormwater National Presidencies, Afflux have a particular interest in ensuring that guidelines and regulations facilitate design outcomes that are best suited to healthy waterway outcomes.
Our professionals provide specialised guidance and tailored training on design and modelling of efficient, compliant, and practicable drainage systems. This includes training on the interpretation of flood maps and models, peer review and peer training and quality assurance within flood modelling.
Afflux are currently involved in the creation of the Victorian Urban Drainage Manual (VUDM). Afflux have aided authorities in providing guides and case studies to facilitate implementation of best practices for effective stormwater management.
The principal engineers at Afflux are within the 12 national independent evaluators for the SQUIDEP (Stormwater Quality Improvement Device Evaluation Protocol) technical review panel. Afflux have undertaken various projects involving monitoring of the performance of constructed stormwater management assets.
Afflux provides the following due diligence, advice and training services:
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Afflux Consulting’s hydrologists have extensive experience undertaking Dam Break and Consequence Assessments through interdisciplinary collaboration with geotechnical and dam engineers.
During a Dam Break and Consequence Assessment, factors such as the dam's structural integrity, capacity, and downstream population density are considered. Generation of the PMP (Probable Maximum Precipitation) and PMF (Probable Maximum Flood) events, in line with the estimation methodology outlined within the GSDM (Generalised Short Duration Method), GSAM (Generalised Southeast Australia Method) and ARR19 extreme rainfall estimation procedures and the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) guidelines. Detailed hydraulic and hydrological models are then employed to simulate different breach scenarios within extreme/rare storm events, taking into account factors like spillway overflow conditions, dam breach impacts, and downstream topography.
Engineers and hydrologists use advanced modelling software to simulate the release of water from the dam and calculate the resulting flood inundation, flow velocities, and flood depths along downstream areas. This facilitates the production of flood maps for interrogation of potential consequences of downstream infrastructure and populations.
This simulation methodology is adapted to simulate climate change scenarios expecting increased rainfall intensity and an expected increase in extreme storm events.
Our Extreme Hydrology, Dam Break and Consequence Assessment services include:
Afflux staff have specialised knowledge in hydrology, engineering, environmental science, and asset design within the urban context. As such, our advice encompasses technical aspects of hydrological modelling, site assessment, system design, and performance evaluation. By providing evidence-based recommendations, our experts help municipalities, developers, and other stakeholders make informed decisions that optimise stormwater management practices, reduce environmental impact, and inform the long-term viability of drainage infrastructure projects.
Afflux provides the following advocacy and advice services:
Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) and drainage involves the planning and design of drainage infrastructure within an urban setting to manage the collection, conveyance, treatment, and discharge of stormwater. WSUD asset design aims to ensure efficient drainage, prevent flooding, protect water quality, and maintain the integrity of natural and built environments by mimicking natural systems.
WSUD aims to provide drainage systems that offer mostly biological water quality treatment and flood management; reducing pollution in line with Best Practice Environmental Management Guidelines (BPEM) and protecting urban areas from flooding during heavy rains. Runoff from developed catchments is often treated by an on-site WSUD system using a treatment train approach to ensure optimal stormwater treatment at the site outlet and prevent significant degradation of downstream waterways and receiving waters.
The design of assets such as culverts, pipes, constructed channels, constructed wetlands, detention basins, swales, and outfalls intends to effectively manage stormwater. In addition to concept design, Afflux continues asset design through functional and detailed design; whilst ensuring assets are practical, cost-effective and constructable.
The design and modelling of WSUD and Drainage Assets include:
Afflux offers significant expertise in waterway management, possessing extensive experience across both the hydraulic and the riparian requirements of waterways. Our portfolio spans from the revitalisation of watercourses to the design and stabilisation of proposed constructed waterways. Changes in runoff, flooding, channelisation/tunnelling, mass failure, or changes in land use result in erosion and degradation of waterways.
Design and implementation of control structures and bioengineering solutions aims to stabilise the soil, reduce topsoil (surface) loss, prevent gullying, reduce streambank erosion, protect water quality, and prevent land degradation.
While distinctions between urban and natural river systems often exist, our engineers conceptualise each system to ensure resilience, biodiversity, and stability. To mitigate habitat homogeneity and ensure safe flow conveyance, waterways are designed with site-specific considerations. This includes variations in requirements based on soil type, hydrological regimes, and insights drawn from surrounding existing waterway forms. Conducting detailed analysis of water flow patterns, sediment transport, and event flow modelling including river-forming flows, environmental flows, or riverine flooding assessments.
Additionally, our engineers assess broader requirements within the waterway corridor, encompassing improvements to surrounding drainage infrastructure, levees, riparian enhancements, water quality considerations, bed shear stabilisation, and fluvial geomorphology.
Our waterway design and management services include:
Designing and modelling an alternative water supply system contributes to the diversification of water supply and reduces dependence on conventional freshwater supplies. Stormwater harvesting is a crucial component of Integrated Water Management (IWM). These systems mitigate water scarcity, adding resilience to a water supply system. In addition, they promote conservation efforts and sustainable water management by recycling locally available resources, thereby lessening the strain on finite freshwater reserves and minimising environmental impact. Additionally, these systems alleviate urban flooding by capturing excess rainwater, reducing runoff, and easing pressure on drainage infrastructure.
Through an assessment of the site, the availability and quality of stormwater runoff can be identified. This informs the potential storage, pre-treatment and re-use reliability. By modelling various harvesting scenarios and feasibility, capacity, infrastructure and system requirements can be outlined. Generally, a continuous simulation model is used to predict the behaviour of water systems over time, accounting for various hydrological processes such as precipitation, evaporation, and runoff. Unlike event-based models, continuous simulation models provide a continuous representation of water flow dynamics, allowing for the analysis of long-term trends, seasonal variations, and the impacts of climate change. Incorporating the variability of rainfall and runoff within harvesting modelling ensures recommended designs result in reliable, consistent supply systems.
The design and modelling of a stormwater harvesting services includes:
Afflux Consulting formulate comprehensive stormwater management plans and strategies to effectively manage the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff within a given area. These plans typically encompass a range of components aimed at mitigating the potential impacts of stormwater on both the environment and built infrastructure.
A stormwater management plan begins with a site assessment to understand the unique characteristics of the area, including topography, soil composition, and existing drainage infrastructure. Engineers then optioneer the drainage systems required for the site, including underground drainage networks, waterways and overland conveyance paths, wetlands and biological treatment systems, proprietary devices, attenuation basins and rain tanks. This assessment informs the development of strategies that comply with relevant regulations governing stormwater management, ensuring that permit requirements and stormwater pollutant control standards are met. The plan also includes the conceptual design of stormwater treatment, collection and conveyance systems.
Our stormwater management services include:
At Afflux Consulting, our flood mapping services involve the creation of detailed maps and models that illustrate areas susceptible to flooding, the potential extent of inundation, and other pertinent flood risk data. Our Flood Mapping services cater to broad-scale regional projects and large urban to small semi-urban land regions. Through detailed mapping and modelling, we provide comprehensive visualisations and analyses for understanding regional flood risks.
Leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and hydrodynamic modelling software (TUFLOW), we analyse terrain, land use, rainfall patterns, and hydraulic constraints. Through this assessment we can generate comprehensive flood maps, flood extents, delineate floodplains, flood depths, water surface elevations, and identify areas of flood hazard. This may inform areas susceptible to inundation, land use planning and development requirements. As well informing impact assessments and identify strategies and recommend structures designed to mitigate flood impacts.
Our flood services include:
At Afflux, we specialise in providing flood management solutions aimed at identifying, managing, and mitigating the impact of floods caused by stormwater runoff.
Our flood services follow a systematic approach, starting with hydrological analysis, including rainfall patterns, loss conditions, runoff rates, rainfall volumes, and catchment characteristics.
Utilising the estimated rainfall runoff inputs we conduct a hydraulic assessment, using 1d-2d hydrodynamic models to simulate flow dynamics, evaluating how water moves through drainage systems, channels, and floodplains. The models simulate a variety of scenarios, including minor flow events, peak flow events, maximum flood scenarios, and climate change sensitivities.
Through this assessment we can provide flood extents, flood depths, flood elevations, flow velocities, flood sheer stress profiles, and flood hazard plots. This may inform impact assessments, development requirements, and identify strategies for mitigating flood impacts.
Our flood investigations utilise software including:
- TUFLOW
- XPSWMM
- HecRas
- MIKE
- RORB, and
- DRAINS
Our flood services include:
