General Drainage Responsibilities:

The District Council has powers under Land Drainage legislation for the maintenance of some watercourses, and to ensure works are carried out by individuals in other areas.

Land Drainage:

All owners of land adjoining a watercourse have Riparian responsibilities. This means that they have some responsibility in keeping that watercourse or ditch free from obstruction and that rubbish is not allowed to get into it from their land. The Council does maintain some 100 Kilometres of "Awarded" watercourses for which the responsibility has been transferred to the Council under Enclosure Acts. Maps of this watercourses are held at the Council Offices. In general these are the slightly larger watercourses which serve small catchments.

Main Rivers are the responsibility of the Environment Agency and they should be contacted for queries on these. They also investigate all reports of pollution and give advice on flooding issues.

The Environment Agency can be contacted on 0845 9333111 for general enquiries , 0800807060 for a 24 hour emergency hotline and 0845 988 11 88* for updated information on flooding.

*If you dial the "updated information on flooding number" and then  chose option 1 for current information  you will be given the option of keying in a  "quick dial" number which relates to a specific river.

Listed below are all the quick dial numbers for rivers within  the Huntingdonshire District Council area.

033111

The River Nene and its tributaries from Wansford to Peterborough

033212

The River Great Ouse from Bedford to Offord including St. Neots

033213

The River Great Ouse from Offord to St. Ives including Huntingdon and Godmanchester

033214

The River Great Ouse at Earith Village

03331

The River Delph, the Old Bedford River and the Hundred Foot River

03332

Rivers, dykes and drains in the Middle Level Commissioner's area

03341

The Alconbury Brook

033422

The River Kym in Kimbolton area down to Great Staughton.

03343

The Bury Brook

0336

General watercourses in Cambridgeshire excluding Peterborough

In the low lying fen areas the drainage is controlled by Internal Drainage Boards who are responsible for the main ditches and often pumping stations which discharge the water up into the main river system.