Who Manages Flood Risk: Agencies, Councils and Water Companies

Flooding in the UK is managed by a patchwork of bodies, and the one you need depends entirely on where the water is coming from. A river bursting its banks is the Environment Agency's business in England. Water pooling in the road after heavy rain is your local council's, as your Lead Local Flood Authority. Sewage in your garden belongs to your water company, and a blocked drain inside your boundary is yours. Knowing this before a flood starts is itself part of the official advice: know who to contact if flooding happens¹.

The other half of the picture is what no agency does for you. If you own your home, it is your responsibility to protect it from flooding². Councils, the Environment Agency and water companies manage risk on the scale of rivers, sewers, roads and coastlines; the walls, doors and drains of an individual house are the owner's to defend. This page sets out who does what, how to reach each body, how Scotland and Wales differ, and where your own responsibility begins.

First, work out where the water is coming from

Before you pick up the phone, look at the water. Is it rising from a river or the sea? Running down the road in heavy rain? Coming up through a drain or toilet? Each of those points to a different authority, and reporting to the wrong one delays the response.

The table below matches the source of flooding to the body that manages it. It is drawn from council guidance across England⁸.

Two practical points from the official guidance on pumping water out during a flood: if you plan to pump flood water into public sewers, check with your water company first, and if you plan to pump it into street drains, highways or highway ditches, check with the local highways authority or National Highways. If you want to pump into rivers, ditches or watercourses, such as a brook or mill stream, check with your local Environment Agency office¹³.

Rivers and the sea: the Environment Agency

Flooding from main rivers, known as fluvial flooding, is managed by the Environment Agency, which should be contacted when this type of flooding occurs⁸. The Agency also manages flood risk from the sea, alongside monitoring the quality of watercourses¹⁴. It constantly monitors rainfall, river levels and sea conditions to forecast the possibility of flooding, alongside its counterparts in Wales and Scotland¹⁵.

To report flooding from a main river or the sea, Cornwall Council's guidance gives the Environment Agency Incident Hotline, staffed 24 hours, on 0800 80 70 60³. Some councils also list an older Environment Agency number, 0845 933 3111, for main river matters¹⁶, and Nottinghamshire lists 0845 988 1188 for the Agency¹⁷.

One point that catches many householders out: if a river or stream runs through or beside your land, you are a riparian owner, and riparian owners are responsible for maintaining river beds and banks¹⁸. The Environment Agency manages flood risk from main rivers, but the upkeep of the watercourse itself beside your property can fall to you. Our page on living next to a watercourse covers this in detail.

The Environment Agency also officially holds the strategic overview responsibility for all types of flood risk, working closely with Lead Local Flood Authorities, who are responsible for surface water and other risk management authorities¹⁹. In practice this means that even where another body handles your flooding, the Agency sits above the system as a whole.

Surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses: your Lead Local Flood Authority

When heavy rain falls faster than drains can cope, the resulting surface water flooding is the responsibility of local authorities. The Flood and Water Management Act designates them as Lead Local Flood Authorities, or LLFAs¹⁹. In London this means there are 33 responsible authorities, one for each London borough and the City of London¹⁹; elsewhere in England the LLFA is usually the county council or unitary authority.

Your local council is your lead local flood authority for surface water flooding and may have further information and advice on its website²⁰. Surface water flooding from heavy rainfall is reported to Lead Local Flood Authorities, reachable through the council switchboard⁴. The same authorities have a remit to manage the risk of groundwater flooding, so rising groundwater is also a matter for your council⁸. For the property owner, the council can provide advice, but responsibility for the home itself remains with the owner¹⁷.

Lead Local Flood Authorities co-ordinate the management of flood risk from what the law calls local sources: ordinary watercourses, surface water and groundwater¹⁸. Northumberland's strategy spells out the full list of local sources: surface water, ordinary watercourses, groundwater, lakes and small reservoirs⁹. Ordinary watercourses are the smaller streams, ditches and becks that are not designated main rivers, and problems with them go to the LLFA rather than the Environment Agency.

The Environment Agency maps flood risk from surface water across the UK²¹, so you can check your home's surface water risk on the flood maps before deciding how much this matters for you. Our page on checking your home's flood risk explains how to do that by postcode.

Sewer flooding and burst mains: your water company

Water companies are responsible for managing flooding from sewers and water mains, and if you experience flooding from either you should contact your water company⁵. The water company owns and manages the network of public foul and surface water sewers¹⁶. Which company that is depends on where you live: in St Helens it is United Utilities⁸, and in Wales sewer flooding is the responsibility of Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy¹¹.

Suspected leaks from a water main and any resulting flooding should be reported to the water company, which is the responsible Risk Management Authority for water leaking from its own mains⁸. If the flooding is due to a burst pipe, contact your water supplier, the company to whom you pay your water rates¹⁰.

The boundary between public and private is where confusion often arises. If your private drains or sewers are overflowing, you will need a drainage contractor to deal with any blockage, and a plumber for water service pipes or internal pipework¹⁶. The water company should be able to determine whether a blockage is in the public or private part of the system once it is on site, and it can then recharge you the cost of any work if it turns out to be a private sewer¹⁶. Our page on sewer flooding goes into the causes and the boundary in more detail.

Flood warnings: three levels from the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency's warning service includes three types of warning: Flood Alert, Flood Warning and Severe Flood Warning⁶. The Agency is responsible for issuing flood warnings throughout England and Wales⁶.

• Flood Alert: the earliest level, meaning flooding is possible and you should be prepared⁶
• Flood Warning: flooding is expected, and you should act on your flood plan²²
• Severe Flood Warning: severe flooding and danger to life²²

A Severe Flood Warning is issued in consultation with local authorities and other responders²³. What each level means for your household, and how to sign up for free warnings by phone, text and email, is covered in our pages on flood warnings and how to sign up.

The Floodline service is provided by the Environment Agency²⁴, and you can contact Floodline for advice on 0345 988 1188²³. When you call Floodline on 0345 988 1188, enter your quick dial code to hear flood messages for your area directly⁷.

Beyond the live warnings, the Environment Agency produces a five-day flood forecast, which you can see on the GOV.UK website². This is the public face of the daily Flood Guidance Statement, each edition of which gives an assessment of the risk of flooding for the next five days²⁵. Our page on the Flood Guidance Statement and five-day forecasts explains how to read it.

What your council does during a flood

During severe flooding, local authorities work with the emergency services and co-ordinate shelter for people evacuated from their homes²⁶. This is the council's core role in a live incident: not defending individual properties, but coordinating the response for people displaced by the water.

Councils also take reports that help build the picture of a flood. Reporting a flood captures information on localised flooding and informs others⁷. Councils ask residents to report gully blockages or highway flooding and to log surface water flooding incidents, while foul sewer blockages and water main flooding go to the local water company²⁷. Flooding on a highway, including blocked drains and gullies on roads, can be reported through the online reporting tool Fixmystreet in some areas¹².

Parish and town councils work with county councils to involve local communities in flood risk management, emergency planning and flood recovery at a local level⁵. If your area has a flood warden scheme or community flood plan, the parish or town council is often the route in; our page on community resilience covers what neighbours can organise together.

If you are evacuated, Somerset's housing guidance sets out what happens next: contact your utility suppliers, as they may need to check your gas, electricity and water supply for safety, and contact your insurer immediately if your home has been flooded, because you are usually responsible for repair costs unless your policy covers them²⁸.

Who checks the safety of reservoirs

Reservoir flooding is rare, but it has its own chain of responsibility. The safety of reservoirs is the responsibility of the reservoir's owners or operators²⁹. The Environment Agency's role is oversight: it is responsible for 2,000 reservoirs in England and Wales and enforces the Reservoirs Act 1975³⁰.

The Agency's reservoir work has three strands: surveillance, meaning maintaining a register of reservoirs for England and Wales; enforcement, meaning achieving compliance with the legislation; and the enforcement of the Reservoirs Act 1975 itself³⁰. If you live below a large reservoir and want to understand the specific risk, our page on reservoir flooding covers the risk maps and what to do if a dam fails.

After your home floods: investigations and support

Once the water has gone, the question of who did what often matters for getting it sorted. Lead Local Flood Authorities have a duty to investigate serious floods, and reporting your flooding to the council, through the routes above, is what feeds that process. Nottinghamshire's after-a-flood guidance lists who is responsible for what follows: rising groundwater flooding is the property owner's to deal with, but the council can provide advice¹⁷.

The practical steps after a flood are largely yours. Contact your utility suppliers, as they may need to check your gas, electricity and water supply for safety²⁸. Contact your insurer immediately, because you are usually responsible for repair costs unless your policy covers them²⁸. Our checklists on first steps after your home floods and making an insurance claim walk through these in order.

Scotland and Wales: SEPA and Natural Resources Wales

The arrangements described so far are England's. Scotland and Wales have their own bodies, and the numbers differ.

In Scotland, SEPA is the national flood forecasting, flood warning authority and strategic flood risk management authority²⁶. Scottish Water is a responsible authority for flood risk management, working closely with SEPA, local authorities and other responsible authorities²⁶. The framework is set by the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, which the Scottish Government oversees and which established the requirement for Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans²⁶. Scottish Ministers set the policy framework for how flooding is managed in Scotland and are ultimately responsible for approving the objectives and actions in the strategies²⁶. Local authorities are responsible for producing Scotland's first Local Flood Risk Management Plans¹.

SEPA issues flood alerts and warnings for Scotland, and you can contact Floodline for advice on 0345 988 1188²³. When you call, enter your quick dial code to hear flood messages for your area directly⁷. SEPA's daily Flood Guidance Statement gives an assessment of the risk of flooding for the next five days²⁵.

In Wales, Natural Resources Wales constantly monitors rainfall, river levels and sea conditions to forecast the possibility of flooding, alongside the Environment Agency and SEPA¹⁵. The Environment Agency is responsible for issuing flood warnings throughout England and Wales⁶. For flooding from surface water and small watercourses in Wales, contact your local authority, who will direct you to their relevant department¹¹. Sewer flooding in Wales is the responsibility of Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy¹¹. Our page on Wales: Natural Resources Wales warnings and risk maps covers the Welsh arrangements in full.

Your local flood risk management strategy

Every Lead Local Flood Authority in England must create and apply a local flood risk management strategy under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010³¹. This is not just paperwork: the strategy is the document that sets what your council will actually do about the flooding that affects you.

Derbyshire's strategy shows what one looks like. It is divided into 2 parts: part 1 provides information about flooding and flood risk, covering who to call and how local people can help themselves to become more resilient to the impacts of flooding; part 2 covers the more technical details of understanding flood risk, setting out the local objectives, the actions to achieve them and how they will be prioritised³². There are 5 local objectives around the key actions for managing local flood risk, and 11 guidance notes and 2 policy documents support the strategy³². Derbyshire's was first published in 2015³¹.

The strategy also gives the role of the council's partners, such as district and borough councils, water companies, and parish and town councils³². Helping people to prepare for floods is a key part of delivering the strategy, as this helps communities to understand and manage flood risk³¹. If you want to know whether a scheme is planned for your area, or why one is not, the strategy and its supporting documents are where the answer sits, usually on the county council's website.

What is left to you

This is the part of the system no agency fills. It is your responsibility to manage your own flood risk and protect yourself, your family, property or business: view flood maps, sign up to Floodline and know who to contact if flooding happens²⁶. If you own your home, it is your responsibility to protect it from flooding².

That responsibility extends to your drains. Keep private drains on your property clear and in good working order, and if they become blocked, call a drainage contractor²⁷. A plumber handles water service pipes and internal pipework¹⁶.

For the building itself, residents are responsible for flood mitigating their properties, and official guidance for flood wardens lists the options: self-closing air bricks, flood barriers for doors, flood doors and windows, flood-resistant kitchens, non-return valves, external wall sealants and flood water alarms³³. Each of these has a page in our flooding section, from door flood barriers to non-return valves, and our guide to protecting your home sets out the resistance and resilience measures side by side.

None of this means you face a flood alone. The bodies above manage the rivers, sewers, roads and coastlines, warn you before water arrives, and coordinate shelter when it does. But the last line of defence around a house is the householder's, and knowing that before the water rises is the point of this page. Start with a household flood plan and a checklist for when a warning is issued.