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Consultation on the Draft Flood and Water Management Bill

The Government has taken a major step to protect communities and businesses from floods and drought. On the 21 April the Government published the draft Flood and Water Management Bill for consultation.

Why do we need a Flood and Water Management Bill?

There are several reasons why we need new legislation for managing flood and coastal erosion risk in England and Wales.:

  • our current flood and coastal erosion risk management and reservoir safety legislation reflects outmoded approaches and organisational structures, with its roots in the 1930s and 1940s;
  • Sir Michael Pitt’s Review of the Summer 2007 floods identified clear gaps in the way that flood risk is managed, particularly in relation to surface water flooding and on the need for a more risk-based approach to reservoir safety;
  • the need to adapt to climate change which is predicted to increase flood and coastal erosion risks through rising sea levels, changing patterns of rainfall and flood flows in rivers, and increased risks from surface water flooding;
  • the need to transpose new legal obligations such as those arising from the EU Floods Directive;
  • a range of outstanding commitments to legislate arising from water policy statements; and
  • the need to enhance certain aspects of Ofwat’s regulatory powers.

Main Benefits

The draft Flood and Water Management Bill will:

  • deliver improved security, service and sustainability for people and their communities
  • it will be clear who is responsible for managing flood risk
  • protect essential water supplies
  • modernise the law for managing flood risk and reservoir safety
  • encourage more sustainable forms of drainage
  • enable water companies to control more non-essential uses of water during droughts
  • make it easier to resolve misconnections to sewers

The overall effect will be a healthier environment, better service and greater protection for people, their communities and businesses.

The deadline for responses was 24 July 2009.

The following material has been published as part of the consultation:

Additional information about the Flood and Water Management Bill is available in the Flood and Water Bill section.

Printed copies of the draft Bill document can be purchased from The Stationary Office:

  • Draft Flood and Water Management Bill: £42.55

To purchase copies, go to:

Page published: 19 November 2009