Guidance on watercourse and ditch ownership and maintenance

Risk management authorities and land owners must work together to manage the flow of water and reduce flood risk.

Watercourses and ordinary watercourses

A watercourse is any natural or artificial channel through which water flows. This can be:

• above or below ground
• in use all year round or only sometimes

Ordinary watercourses include streams, ditches, drains, cuts, culverts, dykes, sluices, sewers (not including public sewers) and passages that water flows through.

Ordinary watercourses do not include main rivers. These are managed by the Environment Agency. Find out if your watercourse is a main river.

Riparian land owners

A "riparian" land owner is someone who owns land that:

• is next to an ordinary watercourse
• has an ordinary watercourse running through or beneath it

Riparian owners have certain rights and responsibilities.

Rights of riparian land owners

Under the Flood and Water Management Act (2010), the Land Drainage Act (1991) and Common Law:

• If your land boundary runs next to a watercourse, it is assumed you own the land up to the centre of the watercourse, unless someone else owns the land over which the watercourse flows.
• If you own land with a watercourse running through or underneath it, it is assumed you own the section of the watercourse on your land.
• If a watercourse is the responsibility of a third party, it should be noted in your deeds.
• You have the right to protect your property against flooding from the watercourse and also to prevent erosion of the watercourse banks or any structure.
• You must accept water following natural contours. If your land is lower, you must accept flows from higher land.

Responsibilities of riparian land owners

Riparian owners have a responsibility to maintain watercourses on or adjacent to their land. This is to help reduce flood risk to their own and surrounding land.

• Let water flow through your land without any obstruction, pollution or diversion which affects how others receive the water.
• Accept flood flows through your land.
• Keep any structure, such as trash screens, clear of debris.
• Maintain the bed and banks of the watercourse and the trees and shrubs growing on the banks. Any litter or obstructions should be cleared, regardless of where they came from.
• Maintain watercourses running in a culvert as if it were an open watercourse, for example by using rods.
• Do not allow the watercourse to become polluted. This includes the disposal of garden waste on riverbanks where it could be washed into the river.
• Leave a development-free edge on the banks to allow easy access for maintenance or inspection, if required.
• Notify Hampshire County Council if you wish to complete any temporary or permanent work on an ordinary watercourse so the flood risk can be assessed. Email [email protected].

Responsibilities of Hampshire County Council

As the Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA), Hampshire County Council is responsible for managing ordinary watercourses in Hampshire. We can enforce a riparian owner to maintain the watercourse on or adjacent to their land.