History

Reducing Flood Risk

The Board and its predecessors have been very successful in reducing flood risk over the years, with a pedigree of over 100 years in the business. So successful in fact, that many people living and working in the area know nothing of the Internal Drainage Board and the vital work that we do to help prevent flooding and drought, protect the environment and facilitate land use.

Measuring Success

Our success is inevitably measured by what does not happen rather than what does happen, which means that if flooding or drought does not occur frequently the value of what we do is sometimes questioned. But it is precisely because we continually maintain, improve and watch over the drainage system that we are actually able to reduce the risk of flooding and drought, protect the environment and facilitate land use.

Evolution

Great strides forward have been made over the years: the system of drainage which was based on an individual’s liability to repair a particular stretch of drain gave way to the small Board centered on a particular drain or outfall. The coming of expensive machinery and modern methods resulted in their amalgamation into an organisation big enough to employ the professional staff and own the machinery and equipment essential to efficient drainage but crucially, without losing the intimate contact with the land, which is at the very heart of good drainage and water level management.

Legal Chronology

The Waveney, Lower Yare & Lothingland Internal Drainage Board Order 2006 (Statutory Instrument 2006 No.2140). This Order constituted Waveney, Lower Yare & Lothingland IDB (the current Board) in 2006 from an amalgamation of 12 Internal Drainage Boards:

• Blundeston, Flixton and Oulton Drainage Board
• Burgh Castle, Bradwell, Gorleston, Southtown and Cobholm Island Drainage Board
• Langley, Chedgrave and Toft Monks Drainage Board
• Oulton, Carlton, Colville and Barnby Drainage Board
• Limpenhoe and Reedham Internal Drainage Board
• Lothingland Internal Drainage Board
• Lower Waveney Internal Drainage Board
• Lower Waveney Second Internal Drainage Board
• Lower Waveney Third Internal Drainage Board
• Lower Yare Second Internal Drainage Board
• Lower Yare Third Internal Drainage Board
• Waveney Valley Internal Drainage Board