Flooding may be caused by rivers overflowing, groundwater rising up through the ground and/or heavy rainfall. A high-level appraisal of all potential sources of flooding in the district can be found in the latest Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (2017).
Responsibility for managing the risk of flooding depends upon the source of the flooding.
- Main rivers and reservoirs - Environment Agency
- Surface water, groundwater and ordinary watercourses – Surrey County Council (Lead Local Flood Authority)
- Water, foul or combined sewers – water or sewerage company
We work closely with these organisations and can also carry out flood risk management works on minor watercourses.
We are all required to co-operate with each other including across boundaries, for example Croydon Council. We work closely during flood events and through our flood alleviation programmes, which are exploring how to manage the risk of flooding in three areas in the district.
The community has played an important role in this work and we have been working with local flood action groups, made up of voluntary groups of local residents. We have two very active flood action groups in this district, which have done much to engage and involve their local communities: Caterham Hill and Old Coulsdon Flood Action Group and the Smallfield Flood Action Group.