 How do you know if you are a riparian owner? If you have a watercourse, ditch, stream, river, or culvert on or next to your land you are known as a riparian owner. Riparian owners are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of watercourses on their land to ensure that they are not a flood risk to other people or property. Well maintained watercourses can significantly benefit the local community by reducing local flood risk and create habitats for wildlife. West Sussex County Council has produced this short film to help individuals and communities understand roles and responsibilities when it comes to maintaining watercourses. The cost of maintaining a watercourse is minor compared to the costs that can arise from flood damage, not to mention the distress and inconvenience caused by property flooding. Look after them. We will now explain each element of potential riparian ownership using this picture of six homes that have various watercourses within their land or close by, unless otherwise shown on the title deeds all of the landowners in this picture would normally be riparian owners up to the middle of the watercourse. House A is responsible for all of the watercourse running through their garden. House B is responsible for the watercourse behind the fence at the bottom of their garden. The ditch is running outside the property. Surely that's not their responsibility. If it runs adjacent to your land and even if it does not fall inside your property boundary as set up by your title deeds, for example, if it's the other side of a fence wall or hedge then you are likely to be responsible for the maintenance of the watercourse bank on your side to halfway across the bottom of the watercourse. So unless the title deeds show otherwise or the land is clearly owned by someone else, it is presumed that each party owns to the middle of the watercourse. House D is responsible for the piped, culverted watercourse buried in the ditch in front of their land and the underground pipe which runs beneath their property to the pond. House E is responsible for the open ditch in front of their house and the pipe section under their access bridge. House F is responsible for the watercourse at the end of their garden behind their hedge and land owner G is responsible for both the watercourse running along the edges of their land and the pond. Just to recap, if both banks of a watercourse run through or under your land, you're fully responsible for maintenance. If it runs adjacent to your land, including the other side of your fence or hedge, you're likely to be responsible for maintenance of the bank on your side to halfway across. Riparian responsibilities are set out in the Land Drainage Act 1991. Riparian responsibilities under law are to pass on water flow without obstruction, pollution or diversion that would affect the rights of others, to maintain the banks and bed of the watercourse, including any trees and shrubs growing on the banks and any flood defence that exists on it. To maintain any approved structures on their stretch of the watercourse and keep them free of debris, these may include trash screens, culverts, wares and mill gates. Riparian owners must not build new structures, for example culvert, bridge or boardwalk, that encroach upon the watercourse or alter the flow of water or prevent the free passage of fish without first obtaining permission from the local authority or environment agency. Common problems affecting watercourses are allowing silt to build up, which can reduce the capacity of or block watercourses, failing to keep vegetation growth under control, disposal or storage of garden or domestic rubbish or waste on the banks of watercourses, failing to clear the entrances to piped watercourse, failing to obtain consent for any building, planting or alterations within eight metres of the bank. The ditch by my property runs alongside a road. Is it the responsibility of West Sussex County Council to manage it? This is a common question and often creates some misconception. Although the county council and highways agency in their role as the highways authority has the right to discharge rainwater from the highway into these ditches, the landowner is responsible for maintaining it. However, if the highway authority has created or piped the ditch specifically under their highway powers, they become responsible for its maintenance. Likewise, most pipes or culverts beneath the highway and of the bridges over watercourses are the responsibility of the county council. The riparian owner of any ditches alongside roads is normally the adjoining landowner, as the highway boundary invariably lies along the top of the bank closest to the road. Adjacent owners should not carry out any work on the ditch, which would restrict road surface water draining into it. There are three categories of roadside ditch, a ditch created by the highway authority and owned by them solely for draining the highway, which is the responsibility of the highway authority, a ditch on the roadside of fences and hedges, taking land drainage as well as highway drainage, which is the responsibility of the riparian owner, a ditch on the filled side of a fence or hedge, taking land drainage as well as highway drainage, which is the responsibility of the riparian owner. What are the consequences of a riparian owner's failure to look after a watercourse? A drainage problem for the property owner and neighbouring landowners, potential flooding of properties, the highway and all the surrounding land, possible enforcement action taken against the riparian owner by Environment Agency, Westside Account Council or local authority under the Land Drainage Act 1991. This is where communities have come together delivering operation watershed projects. We have found improved awareness of responsibilities and benefits, greater connectivity within communities and a common focus for volunteer groups, empowering groups and individuals. What role could community groups such as Parish and Town Councils play? They could raise awareness, coordinate activities, raise funds or produce an emergency plan that will support the most vulnerable people in their community. A good example of this is where communities have come together delivering operation watershed projects. We have found improved awareness of responsibilities and benefits, greater connectivity within communities and a common focus for volunteer groups, empowering groups and individuals. What role could community groups such as Parish and Town Councils play? They could raise awareness, coordinate activities, raise funds or produce an emergency plan that will support the most vulnerable people in their community.