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If you own land or property next to a river or other watercourse, you need to know your rights and responsibilities as a riverside owner. This is known in legal terms as a 'riparian landowner'.
These pages explain your rights and responsibilities. You will also find out how the work of the Environment Agency and other organizations with power over riverside environments could affect you.

As well as clarifying your flood defence responsibilities and how these are shared with others, you'll also find out how you can work with us to protect and enhance the natural environment of our rivers and streams.

Your Rights

• You are presumed to own the land up to the centre of the watercourse, unless it is known to be owned by others.
• You have the right to receive flow of water in its natural state, without undue interference in quantity or quality.
• You have the right to protect your property from flooding, and your land from erosion. You will in most cases need the prior consent of the Agency for any works, however. For more details select "Role of the EA" from the menu on the right.
• You have the right to fish in your watercourse, although this must be by legal methods and with an Agency rod licence.
• Currently, without needing a licence, you can abstract a maximum of 20 cubic metres of water per day for the domestic purposes of your own household or for agricultural use, excluding spray irrigation, from a watercourse at a point that directly adjoins your land. There are proposals to extend this exemption to all purposes, probably during 2005. Most other types of abstraction will require a licence from the Agency. A separate guide for potential abstractors is available on request. Please contact your local Agency office for advice.

These rights are modified by your duty to other riparian landowners, the rest of the community and to the environment.

Before starting any work on or adjacent to a watercourse, you must submit plans of what you propose to the Agency and the local authority to determine whether you require an Agency consent and/or planning permission.

If the work affects sites of known conservation or archaeological value, you may need further permissions from the relevant English or Welsh authorities. Environmental issues, including flood risk, wildlife conservation, fisheries, and reshaping of the river and landscape, must all be considered.

Responsibilities

• You have the responsibility to pass on flow without obstruction, pollution or diversion affecting the rights of others.
• You have the responsibility to accept flood flows through your land, even if caused by inadequate capacity downstream, as there is no common law duty to improve a watercourse.
• You are responsible for maintaining the bed and banks of the watercourse (including trees and shrubs growing on the banks), and for clearing any debris, natural or otherwise, including litter and animal carcasses, even if it did not originate from your land. See "Role of the EA" from the menu on the right regarding the need for consent for these works. Your local authority can give you advice on the removal of animal carcasses.
• You must not cause any obstructions to the free passage of fish.
• You are responsible for keeping the bed and banks clear of any matter that could cause an obstruction, either on your land or by being washed away by high flow to obstruct a structure downstream. Rivers and their banks should not be used for the disposal of any form of garden or other waste.
• You are responsible for keeping clear any structures that you own such as culverts, trash screens, weirs and mill gates.
• You may have flood defences such as walls and embankments on your property, which are vital for the protection of both yourself and others. You should discuss the maintenance of such defences with your local Agency office.
• You are responsible for protecting your property from seepage through natural or man-made banks. Where such seepage threatens the structural integrity of a flood defence, it may become the concern of the Agency.
• Failure to carry out your responsibilities could result in possible civil action from others.

Role of the Environment Agency

The Agency aims to protect the river environment through a number of duties and powers affecting riparian landowners.

• Under the Water Resources Act 1991, the Agency has powers to maintain and improve main rivers for the efficient passage of flood flow and the management of water levels. These powers are permissive only, so there is no obligation on the Agency to carry out either maintenance or new works on main rivers.
• These powers include the disposal of dredgings by depositing them on adjacent land within the reach of the dredging machine’s boom.
• Maintenance of a watercourse is unlikely to be carried out by the Agency for amenity only, or to stop erosion where this does not threaten the interests of the Agency.
• The Agency has powers to construct and maintain defences against flooding, to issue flood warnings, and to manage water levels.
• The Agency also has powers to issue byelaws. Copies of the byelaws that apply in your locality are available from your local Agency office.

The Agency is a statutory consultee in the town and country planning process. As such, it makes representations to local planning authorities on matters in development plans and certain planning applications that are of concern to its functions. The Agency is a consultee only, and one of many, and does not decide planning policies or applications.

Internal Drainage Boards

In certain defined areas, Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) exercise operational and regulatory powers on identified ordinary watercourses. These powers are similar to the Agency’s powers on main rivers. IDBs also have a duty towards conservation similar to that of the Agency.

Local authorities

Under the Land Drainage Act 1991, where there are no IDBs, local authorities are the operating authority for ordinary watercourses. They have permissive powers to carry out works on ordinary watercourses for certain purposes. Their response to work on ordinary watercourses may vary, and they often have their own regulations and byelaws affecting what you can and cannot do on an ordinary watercourse.

• During a flood, the local authority is the emergency body for aid to householders, which may extend to supplying sandbags.
• Works on any watercourse may require planning permission from the local authority, as well as consent from the Agency.

Navigation authorities

The tidal reaches of many rivers have public rights of navigation and, where applicable, harbour authorities may exercise a degree of control. There is no public right of navigation on most non-tidal watercourses. Navigation authorities such as British Waterways, private companies, or the Agency administer some specific larger rivers and canals.