As you report (Revealed: a third of England’s vital flood defences are in private hands, 31 October), the Environment Agency has limited powers to enforce maintenance of privately owned flood defences. There is a further category of largely privately owned infrastructure that has large potential to reduce flood risk: reservoirs owned by water companies. It is acknowledged that provision of storm space in reservoirs can reduce the risk of flooding. For example, the flood risk in Keswick, Cumbria, is significantly reduced when there is space in the upstream Thirlmere reservoir.
Water companies are focused on provision of supplies to their customers and avoidance of drought measures, both of which are backed by legislation. Flood risk does not have the same priority for them, and the Environment Agency does not have the power to require any actions.
The agency has recently completed a national review of reservoirs, in which their role in flood risk reduction was assessed. That report has not yet been released to the public, and may not be as it has been categorised as an internal document to inform policy at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
With climate change increasing the severity of storms and flooding events, it is vital that the role of existing reservoir infrastructure is included in flood risk reduction.
Dr Mark Roberts
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
• Your article did not refer to other bodies with responsibilities across the most vulnerable parts of the country. These are the internal drainage boards, who are responsible for ditches, culverts, rhynes (channels), pumping stations etc. Given the important role they play in the management of watercourses that are smaller than rivers, they generally manage to keep a low profile. But their intervention can be critical to many communities regularly threatened by flooding, and perhaps should be subject to greater scrutiny.
Bob Wolfson
Rudford, Gloucestershire
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