Ouse or Hundred Foot Washes
History and Management Overview

Introduction

During the 17th century extensive drainage works were undertaken throughout a vast area of the fenlands of eastern England in what became known as "The Great Level of the Fens", of which over 300,000 acres later became known as "The Bedford Level"

One of the principal engineers was a Dutchman, Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, and this web-site is about just one small part of his work.

During 1632-37, Vermuyden oversaw the cutting of a new channel 70 Feet wide at top of cut and initially known by its width, but later named the Bedford River, in a straight line from Earith north-east to Salters Lode to take the water of the Great Ouse (correctly River Great Ouse) more quickly towards the sea than the circuitrious route around Ely, and preventing flooding in that area.

It was initially thought successful, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't, so in 1648 he initiated a second and much more comprehensive scheme, the main part of which was cutting a second channel completed in 1652 parallel to the first about 1/2 mile apart. That was 100 feet wide at top of cut and initially named the Hundred Feet River, but later called the New Bedford River. The earlier river was renamed OLD Bedford River to avoid confusion. That was its third name in just 20 or so years.

Creation of "the Washes"

By doing so he he created a 6,000-acre floodplain or reservoir named the Hundred Foot Washes and still known as that by many, but commonly known now as "The Ouse Washes" .

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The attempt started 20 or so years earlier to drain the marshy lands through which the Great Ouse River flowed by cutting the Bedford River (later re-named the Old Bedford River) completed in 1637, was not a success. That work provided a shorter channel to the sea, but was unable to contain the upstream floodwaters nor high tides coming in from the sea at Kings Lynn. Although Vermuyden is usually credited with that work,  Margaret Albright Knittle writing in 2007 cited evidence that he was not involved. In fact it probably wasn't even his idea, the cut having been proposed by others, including Hunt in 1604. More of that later.

However,  it was certainly Vermuyden's idea to create a huge temporary floodwater storage area surrounded by rivers, achieved by cutting another new channel, the Hundred Foot/New Bedford River, as described above, and constructing high 'barrier' banks on the  outer sides of the enclosing rivers, and lower inner banks over which water could flow during flood conditions on to the lands between them. There the water could be held in the wash lands or washes, until river flows and tidal conditions were low enough to allow drainage back into the rivers.

Funding and Management History

The first works, from 1630 to 1652, were funded by Francis Russell, the 4th Earl of Bedford; his son William, who became the 5th Earl; and 12 other wealthy men. They were known as "adventurers" - venture capitalists in modern language - and formed the Company of Adventuers.

Annual taxes to finance maintenance and future works were levied on the newly drained lands awarded to the adventurers. For many adventurers their share of the expenses plus the taxes due outweighed income from the lands, and many were bankrupted.

In 1663 control and funding was passed to the Bedford Level Corporation, a much more formal organisation created that year specifically for that purpose. During the next 250 or so years the BLC's responsibilities gradually diminished, and it was wound up in 1920. The BLC had always had financial problems because its funding came from rates on only part of the area it had to maintain. Subsequent bodies were relieved of that problem but still had/have restrictions imposed by upland areas and central government funding.

The table below briefly summarises the management bodies over the years and their responsibilities. Like the rest of this page this is a draft - much has to be added, and corrections made!

from	to	name	inits	main responsibities
	1663	Commissioners of Sewers	COS	land drainage
1630	1652	Company of Adventurers	COA	construction of new drainage systems
1663	1920	Bedford Level Corporation	BLC	Established under the General Draining Act, 1663 to maintain drainage & navigation on all three levels. Lost resp for most of NL 1753 and all by 1857 Lost resp for most of Middle Level (ML) in 1810, more 1844 and all by 1864 Lost resp for much of South Level (SL) in 1830 and all by 1920 According to Summers, by 1850 resp was confined to major channels & sluices
1920	1930	Ouse Drainage Board	ODB	Est under the Land Drainage (Ouse) Provisional Order, 1920
1930	1952	River Great Ouse Catchment Board	RGOCB	estab under the Land Drainage Act 1930. Drainage, navigation, irrigation, water supply
1952	1965	Great Ouse River Board	GORB	Established by the 1948 River Boards Act added fisheries and pollution prevention
1965	1973	Great Ouse River Authority	GORA	Estab by Water Resources Act 1963
1974		Anglian Water Authority	AWA	Estb by Water Act 1973. Privatised 1989
1989	1996	National Rivers Authority	NRA
1996		Enrivonment Agency	EA

Sources: various

The founding and workings of both the Company and the Corporation are explained in detail on the Adventurers & BLC management page.

Current management of the Washes

This is split between the organisation responsible for the main rivers and major water controlling structures around the Washes; and those which look after the dykes and controls within the Washes.

The main rivers and controlling structures

These are controlled by the Central Area of the Anglian Region of the Environment Agency (EA) from the following locations:

office	address	tel no.	contact	position
Anglian Regional HQ	Kingfisher House Goldhay Way, Orton Goldhay, Peterborough PE2 5ZR	01733 371811 0870 8506506 01733 464389 01733 ??	Amy Squires Keith Stafford	External Relations Ofr Telemetry Team
Central Area Office	Bromholme Lane, Brampton, Huntingdon PE28 4NE		Geoff Brighty Peta Denham	Area Manager Area Fld Risk Mgr
Sub area office	Heron House Prickwillow Road, Ely Cambs CB7 4TX	01480 483685 01480 483727	Adrian Gosling Rupert Wilson Darren Trumper Alan Daniels	Operations Manager (Huntingdon?) Leader, Ouse Washes Field Team Leader, Ely Field Team Leader, Kings Lynn Field team
Sub area office	Howard House, 40-64 St John’s St Bedford MK42 0DJ
Denver Complex			Daniel Pollard	Superintendent

Note: Names mentioned are just a very few of the huge numbers of staff in the region
e-mail addresses are generally firstname.surname@environment-agency.gov.uk

Operation procedures and targets are defined in the EA's Ouse Washes Water Level Management Plan (OW WLMP) as revised from time to time.

Lack of WLMP data on-line makes it difficult for those who wish to study, understand, comment on or judge the EA's actions to do so, as I outlined on my home page (see the system). That is why a website such as this is necessary.

The following is a brief summary of the establishment of OW WLMPs ¹

Date	Item	Produced by	for
1970s	Management Strategy (MS) report	Nature Conservancy		scheme not pursued
1991 - Aug 1992 - ???	OW Flood Control Rpts	Mott Macdonald	NRA	reduction of summer flooding
1992 - Jan	OW MS Group (MSG) 2	established by English Nature (EN) & NRA		with input from HFW IDB, conservation groups, wildfowlers and farmers
1993 - May	OW MSG Intro Paper	EN & NRA		aims & objectives of partners
1995 - Oct	consultation
1996 - Jan/Feb	consultation
1996 - Mar	OW WLMP 1996	Binnie, Black & Veatch	NRA	Not endorsed by all
1997 - Dec	OW WLMP		EA
1998 - July	OW WLMP 1998		EA	Adopted
2002 - Aug	OW WLMP 20023	Halcrow Group Ltd	EA	Review & update 98 plan. Adopted

Notes:

1	WLMPs were/are prepared in accordance with MAFF/DEFRA procedural guides.
2	The OW MSG is the forum for reviewing & updating plans. (Source: OW WLMP 2002, para2.4.3)
3	The EA plans to revise the OW WLMP starting in 2009. The drainage recommendations of the Flood Risk Management (FRM) Strategy will be incorporated to ensure that there are no conflicting objectives that may exacerbate the deterioration of the Ouse Washes. (Source: Great Ouse Tidal River Strategy (GOTRS) Review SEA Environmental Report, Sep 2009, Appendix A: Internal and External Plans Table 1 Relevant EA Plans to the GOTRS)

The dykes, drains and controls within the Washes

The Hundred Foot Washes IDB owns and is responsible for the 17 slackers (small sluices) along the west (inner) bank of the New Bedford/Hundred Foot River which allow water for irrigation to be taken from the river into the IDB's 10-mile long "header" dyke.

The field dykes fed from the header dyke and the controls on the field dykes, are the responsibility of the land owners or users, principally the RSPB and WWT.

The operational functions of these three organisations (IDB, RSPB, WWT) is somewhat blurred because the RSPB and WWT reserve/site managers are also Superintendents of the IDB.

A few of the wash fields are owned by wildfowling clubs and individuals who are responsible for the field ditches and controls.

organisation	address	tel no.	contact	position
Hundred Foot Washes IDB
RSPB	The Three Fishers Welches Dam, Manea March PE15 0NF	01354 680212	Jon Reeves	Site Manager
WWT	Hundred Foot Bank Welney Wisbech PE14 9TN	01353 860711	Leigh Marshall	Reserve Manager

A complex and confusing situation

To describe reasonably briefly the complex system of managing the system to balance the sometimes conflicting needs of drainage, flood protection, irrigation, summer grazing, navigation and the effects of changes in sea and land levels is difficult enough.

Add to that the multiplicity of names used for the watercourses, engineering features and surrounding lands, it is not surprising that confusion has arisen, not just to the general public, but to historians and writers, and even some EA staff whose official reports often contain mistakes, all of which makes research and explanation a tad difficult.

Perhaps the most confusing of all is that the Old Bedford River (OBR) that arrives at Salter's Lode is not the OBR that starts at Earith. The original Bedford River, renamed OBR, was cut in two by a dam at a place that became known as Welches Dam. The northern section was connected via a lock to the Forty Foot, or Vermuyden's Drain draining from Ramsey. The southern section remained a dead-end and the means of  allowing flood waters coming through Earith Sluice to flow into the Washes.

Later, the southern half of the OBR was joined to new drain named the Delph River which was cut from Welches Dam running northwards alongside the eastern bank of the northern section of the original OBR. This combined river, known as the Old Bedford/Delph River, eventually crosses the washes and joins the New Bedford at Welmore Lake sluice.

At some other time a drainage system known as the Cranbrook Drain/Counter Drain  starting near Colne was joined onto the northern section of the OBR near the Forty Foot lock. From Colne, the Cranbrook Drain runs south-east to Black Sluice just north of Earith. Here, Cranbrook Drain can flow straight on through Black Sluice into the OBR, but under normal circumstances the water turns north-east at more than a right angle into the start of the Counter Drain (CD). The CD runs northeast from there alongside the western bank of the southern section of OBR, taking in water from the Middle Level fens to the west of the Ouse Washes. This combined waterway, known as the CD/OBR, is the one that arives at Salter's Lode.

The SW/NE orientation of the Washes also causes confusion as mentioned earlier, in that some people refer to the side nearest Ely as the south, others (including me) the east. Likewise the other side is called either west or north. Hence at Welney, the outer bank of the Old Bedford south of Welney Bridge is known as Bedford Bank West, and north of the bridge it is Bedford Bank East. Even though it is, to me, on the western bank of the river.

Even the current name Ouse Washes is not universally used, many referring to it by an older name, the Hundred Foot Washes, and some individual fields, or sections of The Washes also have their own local names.

You can find more about Rivers on my 'Features' page

Operation

The movement of water in the rivers and along the Washes is governed by several main control structures operated by the Environment Agency (EA):

• Hermitage Lock at Earith, which effectively diverts the normal flow of the Bedford Ouse into the Hundred Foot River, allowing a small flow to continue along what is now called the Old West River. The lock also allows navigation between the three rivers.
• Earith Sluice, which allows excess floodwaters which the Hundred Foot and Old West Rivers cannot hold to enter the Old Bedford, which then overflows onto/ into, the Washes.
• Welmore Lake Sluice, 19 miles north-east of Earith where the retained floodwaters are eventually released into the New Bedford River when tides and river level are low enough.
• The Old Bedford Sluice/Lock near Salter's Lode, 21 miles from Earith, which allows navigation and two-way water flow - excess fluvial water can exit into the Tidal River, and in summer water from the Tidal River can be taken into the Old Bedford for irrigation purposes. 
• Welches Dam Pumping Station and Welney Sluice Gate which are six miles apart but operated in conjunction with each other. At Welches Dam, the two rivers on the west change their name and their function. I'll leave further explanation to separate pages.

Many of the operations are automatic, based on river levels monitored and recorded by a 'telemetry' system. Some of the parameters are set by law. I have begun to explore this important subject on my water levels page.

Gravity also plays its part of course, as in any river system, and when in flood the waters in the washes flow downstream from south to north. But in The Washes there is an extra dimension - the wash lands are higher on the east, so when not in flood, the field drains take waters westwards across the washes towards the Old Bedford/Delph (OB/D) river. The gradient is natural, and gentle, a fall of 12 to 18 inches (0.3 to 0.45M). This sideways flow has to be controlled and not allowed to simply drain into the OB/D because the internal ditches need to be kept filled during summer as explained below.

Shrinkage

After completion of Vermuyden's second scheme in the middle of the 17th century the fens were adjudged to be "drained".  Vermuyden's work  had created 'summer lands' within the Washes for grazing and 'winter lands' outside the Washes for arable farming on the fertile reclaimed land. However, conditions were far from those we see today.

Despite the initial success there were unforeseen (but perhaps foreseeable?) problems. As the peat lands dried out they shrank until eventually they became lower than the rivers. By the end of the 17th century much of the reclaimed lands were once again under water for prolonged periods.

That led to the formation of 'Internal Drainage Districts' controlled by 'Internal Drainage Boards' (IDBs) which undertook on behalf of the farmers to cut ditches around fields to drain them and lift the water up into the main rivers with wind-driven scoops or pumps, and later by massive steam engines. The IDBs that drain into the rivers of the Ouse Washes are listed below;  note some may also discharge elsewhere, eg Haddenham, and Littleport & Downham.

Internal Drainage Boards

Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs), or (District) Drainage Commissioners (DCs or DDCs), are responsible for "low-level drainage", i.e, field drains and dykes. The EA and MLC deal with the "high-level" drainage, i.e the main rivers. IDBs have elected members, whilst in DCs or DDCs, all owners of more than a certain amount of land in the area can vote.
The catchment & drain details are as stated by the IDBs in 2010-2012.

Name	district created/modified	management assistance	catchment area		structures1	maintained drains
			acres	hectares		miles	kms
Hundred Foot Washes IDB	pre 1824	MLC	5,048	2043	0 + 17	10	19
Sutton & Mepal	1749	MLC	11,604	4696	2 + 22	36	66
Manea & Welney DDC	1758,1799	MLC	7.779	3148	2 +  5	22	41
Upwell IDB	1801
Over & Willingham	19732		1,914
Haddenham Level DC	1727, 1797		7,522		2 + ?
Littleport & Downham	1756, 1800,1810	Ely Gr'p IDBs	32,242	13048

Notes

1	Pumping stations + other water control structures, eg slackers, sluices.
2	Over district created 1837; amalgamated with Willingham 1973

Chronology, Time Line

years	month			refs
1604		Hunt	proposed a new cut from Erith (Earith) to Salters Lode.
1630	Jan	Lyn Law	Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford, contracted to drain the Great Level, later known as the Bedford Level(s), within 6 yrs
1631	Feb	Indenture of 14 parts	Incorporation of the Company of Adventurers to fund the works
c1632 to c1637		Seventy Foot or (Old) Bedford River dug	from Erith (Earith) to Salters Lode, to be the new route for the Great Ouse
c1630		(Old) Bedford Sluice built at Salters Lode	at end of (Old) Bedford river to prevent tidal inflow into the new cut from the Great Ouse
c1630		Salters Lode Lock built	where Well Creek joins the Great Ouse
1637	Oct	a Session of Sewers held at St Ives	adjudged lands drained in line with the Lynn Law; awarded 95,000 acres to the Adventurers
1638	Apr	a Session of Sewers held at Huntingdon	reversed, Oct 1637 decision; draining judged defective
1638		Vermuyden's "Discourse"	A plan to improve drainage prepared for King Charles 1. Vermuyden opposed embanking all rivers, instead cutting more rivers and creating washlands as temporary storage.
1642		Vermuyden's "Discourse"	published, with map
1642-1651		Civil War
1645		Oliver Cromwell	appointed as Governor of the Isle of Ely. Formed a drainage committee.
1649		Act of (The "Pretended Act")	William Russell, 5th Earl of Bedford, authorised to drain land to make fit for permanent agricultural use.
1649		Vermuyden re-engaged	to do the "second stage"
1650		Jonas Moore	appointed surveyor to the Adventurers; compiled map of the reclaimed land showing the "lotts", ie the land allotted to each of the Adventurers, and how the original allottments were spilt and sub-divided many times, accounting for many (but by no means all) the Wash fields.
c1651-c1652		Hundred Foot Drain or New Bedford River cut	from Earith to adjacent to what became Denver Sluice
1651?		Nine Holes Sluice built	at Earith to block off the (Old) Bedford River except in times of flood.
1651		Hermitage Sluice built	at Earith to turn the Great Ouse into the New Bedford River, allowing only a small amount into the Old West River
1651		Denver Sluice built	navigation only possible when river levels were the same both sides of sluice.
1649-1651		Forty Foot River cut	from Ramsey to what became known  as Welches Dam
1651		Forty Foot Lock built	from 40 ft to OBR
1651		Welches Dam built	across OBR sth of Forty Foot, to turn water from 40 Ft to Salters Lode
c1652			"second phase" completed creating the Hundred Foot Washes (later known as the Ouse Washes)
1657		William Dugdale	Commissioned by the Adventurers to write a history of fen drainage. Didn't live in or know about the Fens. Toured the area for 2 weeks, and consulted previous books, then wrote "History of Imbanking and Drayning" with a version of Jonas Moore's map.
1658		Great Dyke at Mepal	"Probable" year first cut	20
1661		William Marshall	established a charity for Welney
1663		General Draining Act	established Bedford Level Corporation
1666		Great Fire of London	destroyed the Fen Office and most records of the Adventurers & the earliest ones of BLC
1713		Denver Sluice collapsed	first undermined by upstream floods, then demolished by incoming tides.
1728		North Level	became independent from BLC
1750		Denver Sluice rebuilt	by Labelye. Navigation lock added. Previously navigation only possible when river levels were the same both sides of sluice.
1756		Welmore Lake Dam built	to prevent tidal flows into the Washes
1758		Great Dyke at Mepal	earliest evidence of existence of the Great Dyke
1772		River Delph cut	from Welches Dam to NBR at Welmore Lake. Presumably with a new Middle Level Barrier bank. (date: Dr N James	6
1806		Great Dyke and Lock at Mepal	first lock installed at the Great Dyke
1824		Seven Holes Sluice built on OBR at Earith	to replace Nine Holes Sluice
1825		Welmore Lake Sluice built	to replace the dam
1826		Hermitage Lock on OWR at Earith re-built
1826		High Bridge Earith built	cast iron bridge over NBR.
1827		Suspension Bridge built over NBR at Welney	wrought iron chain suspension bridge. Area became known as Suspension Bridge
1827		Sandys or Sandalls Cut	from Ely to Littleport
1828		Old Bedford Sluice/lock re-built
1828		Salters Lode Lock re-built
1830		Hundred Foot PS built	Steam driven, draining parts of Sth Level into NBR
1830		Samuel Wells	Register of the BLC published 2-vol history of the draining, also a map in 1829
1832		Delph Bridge	new bridge, cost £518, paid by Marshalls Charity	15
1834		Denver Sluice	Navigation lock replaced by larger one.
1837		Flat Earth experiments on OBR	Samuel Rowbotham's first experiment
1838		Manea Colony established
1840		Fortreys Hall PS built	Steam driven, draining parts of Middle Level into CD
1842		Glen House PS built	Steam driven draining parts of Middle Level into OBR
1844-1846		Railway line built	with bridges, viaducts and an embankment across Washes from Pymoor to Manea
1848		Middle Level main drain	cut from end of 16ft drain to Wiggenhall
c1923-c1928		Railway line re-built	across Washes from Pymoor to Manea
1926		Suspension Bridge	concrete arch bridge replaced the suspension bridge
1928		Glen House PS	Diesel replaced steam
1930		Mepal bridges/ 1st viaduct built	Old bridges replaced; viaduct replaced causeway road
1932		Model of The Wash	showing effects of tidal and fluvial flows built by RGOCB, Cambridge
1933		Welmore Lake sluice	rebuilt
1937		Sth Level Barrier Bank	"slipped" opp Welmore Lake Sluice	13
1948		Glen House PS	rebuilt
1948		Welches Dam PS built	Diesel driven. Built into the ML Barrier Bank. Half way
1951		Hundred Foot PS	Diesel motor replaced Steam engine
1954		Earith Sluice built	to replace Seven Holes Sluice
1954-1964		Great Ouse Flood Protection Scheme	to protect South Level from flooding from rivers Lark, Wissey, and Little Ouse. Cut Off Channel from Barton Mills to Denver and (Flood) Relief Channel from Denver to Kings Lynn.
1960-1961		(Flood) Relief Channel	Cut from Denver to Kings Lynn
1967		Model of Wash GORA workshop/lab	demolished by GORA, 1967 Coldhams Rd premises closed
1973		Welney Gate Sluice built	by GORA (at expense of Upwell IDB)	16 18
1975		Cock Fen PS built	by Upwell IDB	16
1976		Drought Act	Earith Sluice drawmarks suspended Dam (proposed) in NBR nr Earith Br Flow of Great Ouse reversed, also Ely Ouse & Old West ?	10 10 10 10
1982-1986		Denver Sluice re-furbished
1985		Mepal by-pass built	1930 viaduct across washes and bridge across Old Bedford dismantled
1985		Hundred Foot PS	new Electric powered PS built
1991		Forty Foot Lock rebuilt	and re-named Welches Dam Lock.
1994		Welney Bridge rebuilt
1994		Delph Bridge rebuilt
1994		Barrier Bank works	Est costs: ML c£13m, SL c£8.5m	18
1996		Suspension Bridge	steel re-inforced br replaced bow arch
1998		Glen House PS	new diesel? powered pumps fitted
1999		Welmore Lake Sluice	rebuilt
2001		Relief Channel Navigation lock
2010		Welmore Lake PS	new PS to drain Delph in Spring
2010-2011		Welches Dam PS	Refurbished; New electric motors & pumps replaced the 1948 sets
2011		Earith Sluice	Refurbished. Radial gates repaired. Control building updated (?)
2012		Barrier Bank works	MLBB, Welney-Welches Dam(?) £1.1m	19

Notes and sources:

1	Samuel Wells, History of the Drainage of ... Bedford Level, Vol 1, 1830
2	W.Elstob, Historical Account of the Great Level called Bedford Level, 1793
3	Prof HC Darby, The Changing Fenland 1983
4	Prof HC Darby, The Drainage of the Fens, 1956
5	Dorothy Summers, The Great Level, 1976
6	Dr. N.James, Drowned and Drained, Inst of Cont Ed, U of Cam.,2009, p8
7	The Middle Level Acts, 1875
8	The Cambridge Region, 1938
9	Hansard
10	London Gazette
11	Bedford Level Corporation records
12	IDB records
13	John S Martin
14	Eddy Edwards
15	Tony Smart
16	Tablet or plaque at site
17
18	NRA
19	Environment Agency
20	Paper in Cambridge Antiquarian Society, Vol CVIII, 2019

Ownership

area/location	owner	acres	hectares
washes South of A1101 Welney	Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB)	2,428	983
	Cambs Wildlife Trust	456	184
	tenanted grazing	148	60
total washes South of A1101 Welney		3,032	1227
washes North of A1101 Welney	Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT)	910	368(2)
	Fenland Wildfowlers Association	200	81
	Spalding & District Wildfowlers	60	24
	other wildfowling clubs & individuals	648	263
total washes North of A1101 Welney		1818	736
total all current wash lands		4,850	1963
add Environment Agency land	rivers and banks	1,087	440
Grand total	Earith to Welmore Lake Sluice	5,937	2403
Arable farmland (Lake Farm)	Welmore Lake to Salters Lode3	?	?

Notes and Sources:

1	RSPB leaflet 2006; Wildfowling club websites 2011
2	WWT site says 420 hectares, it could be an updated figure, but their site has contained so many factual errors over the years including a current statement that the washes were created in the 18th century, that I'll need to check that out.
3	This area was part of the original Washes flood plain/reservoir until the River Delph was cut (c1750s-1782)

Irrigation

* -- section awaiting content -- *

see also:

Navigation

-- section awaiting content --

see also:

Conservation

* -- section awaiting content -- *

see also: Nature & Wildlife reserves

Recreation & Sport

Bird watching

Walking

Angling

There are many clubs and associations covering this subject, both in terms of current activities and the longer term planning and provision of facilities.

In April 2011 the EA carried out a study of fish species at 5 points along the Old Bedford/Counterdrain:  Old Bedford: Counterdrain Fisheries Survey Report 2011 which reported a 92% loss in average fish density since 2008.
The Angling Trust Eastern Region Freshwater Forum produced a report  detailing numerous outstanding problems.
My thanks to Kelvin Allen, Chairman of the Angling Trust for providing these documents.

Skating

Boating

Wildfowling

* -- section awaiting content -- *

see also: Nature & Wildlife reserves

Tourism

* -- section awaiting content -- *

see also: Nature & Wildlife reserves

Additional floodwater storage areas outside Washes

* -- section awaiting content -- *

see also: Nature & Wildlife reserves and Additional floodwater stoage areas both on the Features page

Conclusion

There have been some later modifications to the system, for instance introducing a third river, The Delph; making a new outlet for the floodwaters at Welmore Lake Dam, later Sluice, reducing the storage area to 'only' 19 miles; and building a water transfer station at Welches Dam; but the Washes still work today much as Vermuyden intended, filling up with flood water every winter so protecting the surrounding lands.