A milestone was reached in mid-August with the River Sowy-King’s Sedgemoor Drain (KSD) Enhancements Scheme, which is being delivered for Somerset Rivers Authority by the Environment Agency.

The Environmental Statement for this scheme’s first phase went out for consultation until 13 September on the Environment Agency’s online consultation hub.

The consultation is now closed but you can still download the River Sowy-KSD Environmental Statement which contains masses of information about this major scheme.

Funding and purpose

River Sowy-King’s Sedgemoor Drain enhancements are being funded by Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) and by Growth Deals money from the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership.

The aim is to allow the Sowy and KSD to store and transport greater amounts of flood water, as part of a programme to reduce flooding across 150 square miles.

The photo at the top of this page shows the River Sowy downstream of Beer Wall on the A372 near Othery and the inconspicuous nature of existing flood embankments.

This scheme will include raising embankments between Beer Wall and Parchey Bridge on the KSD to increase the rivers’ capacity by up to 40%.

You can read more about the long history and the wide-ranging ambitions of the River Sowy-King’s Sedgemoor Drain Enhancements Scheme in the SRA Annual Report 2019-20.

The photo below shows the River Sowy during its construction between 1969 and 1972.

The map shows key locations for the current Sowy-KSD Enhancements Scheme (Phase 1).

Thank you to the project team

The Sowy-KSD Environmental Statement consultation documents represent a huge amount of hard work.

The SRA is grateful to the project team at the Environment Agency and to other SRA partners, local people and organisations who have contributed a lot of time, effort and knowledge.