Draining Away?

George Monbiot notes that England and Wales have 112 Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs). These IDSs are officially tasked with draining agricultural land and flood control. Monbiot opines that most IDSs are dominated by major rural landowners. Having farming interests, they focus on draining agricultural land. Often, they do this by speeding the passage of water from its catchment area towards towns and cities. This intensifies the probability of flooding in urban locations. Monbiot also notes that IDSs are highly nepotistic (membership is passed from father to son). The boards also generally have little environmental expertise. Funding for IDSs activities (like digging, clearing vegetation and pumping), comes from local authorities. In deed, 3 Lincolnshire authorities (Lincolnshire is very flat), now give more than 50% of their council tax receipte to their IDSs. There are cases, where money inappropriately. In one case, the board travelled to Venice on a 'fact-finding' tour. IDSs also have no effective mechanisms for complaints from the misserved public (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/18/more-floods-britain-system-protect-us-scandal). Monbiot believes the IDSs need to be replaced. The Dutch seem to operate more effectively. Global heating increases the probability of flooding in England and Wales. These countries can't continue afford to leave water control to 'feudal' collections self-serving amateurs. Rather obviously, the best way of limiting urban flooding is to retain the water for longer on agricultural land. This often doesn't suite farming interests. Upland and sea locality wetland creations, must clearly play a role here.