The river - a watercourse or a drainage channel?

Past works on rivers for drainage and flood alleviation purposes, not only had a detrimental impact on the visual landscape, but also led to the loss of many river and wetland habitats. As a result flora, fish and wildlife have often been adversely affected. It is now recognized that the wider river corridor is a natural resource, as well as being part of the commercial and agricultural infrastructure, and a means of drainage.

In recent years Rivers Agency has responded to the growing environmental concerns by adopting fully integrated river management, achieving both nature conservation and land drainage objectives. This approach has identified the potential for enhancing the most severely modified rivers.