Flood risks in Somerset can be reduced, and valuable habitats for wildlife preserved, by maintaining watercourses and pumping stations.

The video below first features the Environment Agency’s River Parrett field operations team. It includes some eye-catching aerial shots of vegetation-cutting from about 2:02″ onwards.

At 3:18″ the video switches to North Drain Pumping Station, with some good drone pictures from about 3:23″. A sample screenshot is at the top of this page.

North Drain Pumping Station is an important flood defence facility in the catchment of the River Brue.

As Mike Lake of the Environment Agency explains in the video below, it helps to control water levels on Tealham and Tadham Moors, a large Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Somerset Rivers Authority part-funded lots of improvements to North Drain Pumping Station in summer 2020.

This video is hosted on YouTube to give you the chance to get subtitles, if you need or want subtitles for what is being said. Use the subtitles/closed captions tool in the bottom right-hand corner of the video.

About Somerset Prepared

Somerset Prepared is a multi-agency partnership. It helps local communities with advice, support and training to enhance resilience to emergencies.

Somerset Prepared members include:

• Avon & Somerset Police
• British Red Cross
• Community Council for Somerset
• Community representatives
• Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
• Environment Agency (Joint Chair)
• Rotary International
• Safe South West (Treasurer)
• Somerset Local Authorities Civil Contingencies Partnership (Joint Chair & Secretariat)
• Somerset Rivers Authority
• South Western Ambulance Service
• Spark Somerset