Pumping Volumes at St Germans Pumping Station

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 that a significant proportion of the water pumped at St Germans has already been pumped once or twice beforehand via our Bevill’s Leam Pumping Station and/or by other Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs) via a network of over 70 pumping stations.

In the first ten days of January 2024, we have already pumped 30,453 Megalitres at St Germans. We also pumped more in December 2023 than in the whole of the 2021/22 year.

For reference, the proposed Fens Reservoir may have a 55,000 Megalitre storage capacity.

This is a herculean combined effort by your local Internal Drainage Boards.

IDBs are small public authorities constituted of members of the local agricultural and land management community along with members appointed by District Councils to represent the non-agricultural interests within an IDB’s district.

IDBs generally set their income rates based on budgeting for an ‘average’ year of pumping and generally hold small reserves to cater for wetter than average years.

Proudly managing water levels in the Fens since 1862!

Paul Burrows

Chief Executive

13/01/2024