Somerset is spending £300,000 to carry out river maintenance the Environment Agency had dropped from its own programme — with officials warning the money may not stretch to every site on the list.

Work started on Monday, 10 August, across the Levels and Moors, where 18 stretches of river, drain and rhyne spanning a total of 67.8km have been identified for possible clearance. The programme comes after the Environment Agency reduced the maintenance it could carry out because of increased costs and reduced funding.

The Somerset Rivers Authority set aside the money from its own budget in February, following flooding across the county earlier this year. The work is now being delivered by the Parrett and Axe Brue Internal Drainage Boards using local contractors.

But the published programme comes with an important limit. The SRA says ground conditions, weather and the unpredictable cost of individual jobs mean not every one of those 18 stretches is guaranteed to be reached.

And its announcement does not set out a replacement programme for any sites left unfinished when the £300,000 allocation is spent.

Why Somerset is paying for the work

The position dates back to last summer, when the Environment Agency announced it would stop maintaining a significant proportion of Somerset's waterways after receiving only 60 per cent of the funding it had requested from the Treasury.

That meant stretches which had previously been part of the EA's main river maintenance programme were no longer due to receive that work. The SRA subsequently agreed to fund selected sites itself, concentrating on waterways considered important for flooding, drainage and water quality and quantity.

This is therefore additional Somerset funding being used to carry out work which had fallen out of the Environment Agency programme. It is not an expansion of the old programme, and the £300,000 has to cover whatever work can be completed within the available budget.

The timing is significant because the work is taking place between the flooding of early 2026 and the coming autumn and winter. The same network is also important during dry conditions, carrying water into ditches and rhynes used by livestock and environmentally important sites.

What is being done around Glastonbury and the Mendips

Some of the largest stretches sit directly around Glastonbury.

Division Rhyne, north of the town, has 6.3km on the list, while Hartlake Rhyne accounts for another 3.4km. To the east, 4.2km of Redlake Rhyne and 5km of the Whitelake River are also included.

Together, those four stretches amount to 18.9km of the published programme around Glastonbury.

Further across the Mendip side of the Levels, 7.5km of Panborough Drain south of Wedmore is listed, along with 5.7km of the Lox Yeo west of Sidcot and 1.2km of Landcourse Rhyne north of Cheddar.

The published programme does not identify waterways in Wells or Shepton Mallet themselves. But the wider drainage network being worked on stretches across the Levels below the Mendips, including routes around Wedmore, Cheddar, Sidcot and Glastonbury.

On the Parrett side, the largest sections include 8.6km of the River Cary between Somerton and Henley and 8.2km of Eighteen Feet Rhyne west of Compton Dundon.

King's Sedgemoor Drain upstream of Greylake has 2.9km listed, with further work proposed around Langport and Muchelney.

Why the work matters

The maintenance is mainly vegetation clearance and weed cutting rather than major engineering work. Its purpose is to keep established channels clear enough to move water through the lower Somerset Levels and Moors.

An SRA spokesperson said: "Our aim is to help ensure that clear and effective routes are available for conveying and evacuating water from the lower Somerset Levels and Moors. The floods of early-2026 were a major reminder of the importance of this principle.

"We also recognise that clear and effective conveyance routes are of great importance during times of drought. They feed water into ditches and rhynes so that livestock can drink and be kept in by 'wet fences', and so that sites designated for their natural and historical value can be preserved."

The spokesperson added: "The work to be delivered by the drainage board, using local contractors, will primarily consist of vegetation clearance and weed cutting. The sites identified are those where the drainage boards are hoping to get work done, because of the impact these watercourses can have on flooding, drainage and issues of water quality and quantity, but it is crucial to note that not all sites may be reached."

What happens if the £300,000 is not enough?

The SRA has been clear that the 18 named stretches are places where the drainage boards hope to carry out work, rather than a guaranteed list of completed jobs.

Ground conditions and weather can alter how long a job takes, while the cost of clearing individual waterways can vary. The drainage boards have therefore been told to deliver as much maintenance as possible within the £300,000 available.

That means the final amount completed could be less than the 67.8km identified in the programme. The SRA has not said which sites would be dropped first if the funding does not cover the entire list.

It has also not announced additional funding specifically to complete any stretches left over from this programme. No timetable has been given for when an unfinished site would next receive maintenance if it is not reached this year.

With reporting from: Daniel Mumby/LDRS

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