Flood · In brief

Fen drainage boards and who runs them

An internal drainage board manages water levels in its district through drains, ditches and pumping stations. Each board is separate, so check which one covers your address on the ADA map the County Council points to.

Most useful for: Householders and buyers in fen-edge villages and the Cambridgeshire Fens

Compiled from the sources at the end. Updated 4 November 2026.

Old brick engine house with a tall chimney beside a lane, a blue fence and an information sign. — The old brick engine house and chimney of a fen pumping station.

These bodies sit alongside the Environment Agency and the County Council, and they rarely come up until a ditch overflows. The County Council separates them out: main rivers fall to the Agency, surface water and ordinary watercourses to the council, and levels in a drainage district to its board. The flood risk page covers the others.

Two local examples

The Middle Level Commissioners are a public authority, dating from 1862, working in the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Fens. They run two major pumping stations, about 300km of embankments and 190km of waterways. Their own account says they act like a drainage board under the Land Drainage Act 1991, and that each drainage board is separate.

The Ely Group, formed in 2002 and based at Prickwillow, brings together ten boards. They include Waterbeach Level, Swaffham and Old West, and each remains its own legal entity. So a shared office does not mean a shared body, and any letter should go to the board for your district.

Straight narrow water-filled drain running through flat green fields to the horizon. — A straight drain across Burwell Fen.

How it reaches a house

Money from homes can arrive indirectly. Middle Level says non-agricultural rates come via a special levy through district councils, so ask your district council how that works for your address. Other boards may describe it differently, so check with the one that covers you.

A board's work does not reach inside your walls. It manages levels and channels, and neighbours' ditches or a house drain may fall to someone else. For water that has reached the house, the after-flood steps come first. If the map leaves you unsure who holds a particular stretch, ask the County Council.

Older fen-edge villages show how long this has mattered. The 1999 Over appraisal describes a village surrounded by drainage ditches, and the Waterbeach appraisal records recurrent inundation in the past.

Sources, read 4 November 2026: Cambridgeshire County Council: who is responsible for what; Middle Level Commissioners; Middle Level Commissioners: about; Ely Group of Internal Drainage Boards; Over appraisal 1999; Waterbeach appraisal 1999.