St Germans is the largest land drainage pumping station in the UK, working in combination with over 70 smaller stations, hundreds of km of drains and raised embankments, to keep our Fens relatively dry and protect local communities and the economy from flooding. We are hoping for a drier 2024/25 but need to plan for […]
We are delighted to let our boaters know that we have now installed a water point at our office mooring. Whilst our mooring remains a private mooring the section closest to our neighbour Fox Narrowboats is now available primarily for visitors to our office to use. This is where the water point is located. If […]
February 2024 proved to be a record breaker within a record-breaking year for pumping at St Germans, the UK’s largest land drainage pumping station. In February we pumped 58,490 Megalitres of water at St Germans, the equivalent of the volume of 14.6 Wembley Stadiums and the greatest volume we have ever pumped in a calendar […]
For the period October – December 2023 we pumped 80,812 Megalitres of water at St Germans Pumping Station to protect lives and livelihoods from flooding. This is the equivalent of 32,325 Olympic sized swimming pools. This is the most we have pumped at the station over an October – December period. It is worth remembering […]
Our response to OFGEM’s review of standing charges We welcome OFGEM’s call for input into its review of standing charges. We feel that the Targeted Charging Review did not consider the bespoke needs and role of the Internal Drainage Board (IDB) sector within its concept and therefore its implementation has been unfair. Here at the […]
Whilst the skies may be clear today, our drainage system is under stress. Yesterday saw St Germans Pumping Station discharging 77 cubic metres of water per second. We have never previously needed to pump to this level. There are still vast quantities of water within our system, being pumped into our system by Internal Drainage […]
Given our changing climate, we need to explore if and how the Middle Level system could be operated more efficiently and effectively. We have produced a briefing to explain the background and context for a pumping operations trial that we recently commenced, with Storm Babet being the first test within this.
For 30 years Paul Grodkiewicz has been at the heart of our navigation service in his role as lock-keeper at Salters Lode. Paul has recently confirmed his intention to retire at the end of February 2024 and our plan is that Paul’s wife, Karen Hills, takes on the role. I’m sure our boating community will […]
In response to the recent feedback, we are looking to fast-track the introduction of a text messaging service for the navigation community through the use of a government platform. We are likely to only be able, at least initially, to manage the service during working hours with anything outside of this being on a reasonable […]
Cambridgeshire County Council like to invite local community representatives to their Flood Action Conference which will take place on Thursday 21st September 2023 at Burgess Hall in St Ives from 10:15 to 16:30. The conference has been organised by the Community Flood Action Programme team (part of the Flood Risk team) and is open to […]