Water & Rainwater
Drainage, Flood Risk & Natural Flood Management
Get water off the field, and slow it down before it reaches the village.
Field drainage determines workable days, yield stability and machinery damage, and it is almost always undocumented — the plans are in a drawer or lost. This module maps the drainage system, plans maintenance and renewal, assesses flood risk to land and buildings, and appraises natural flood management interventions that now attract funding in their own right.
- 12 capabilities
- 4 linked schemes
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 5
- Interactive tools
- 4
- Linked support schemes
- 5
- Data integrations
- 5
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in drainage & flood in the UK
Substantial capital has been committed to flood defence, and natural flood management is increasingly funded as a catchment intervention rather than an incidental benefit. Much of the UK's field drainage was installed decades ago with no surviving record, so the first task on most holdings is finding out what is actually there.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Drainage & flood, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Drainage & Flood — a walkthrough
A working pass through drainage & flood: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
Capabilities
What Drainage & Flood does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Drainage system mapping including mains, laterals, outfalls and manholes
- Historic drainage plan digitisation and georeferencing
- Drainage performance assessment by field with wet spot identification
Operate and monitor
- Maintenance schedule for jetting, outfall clearing and ditch management
- Drainage renewal appraisal with cost and yield benefit modelling
- Mole ploughing and subsoiling planning against soil condition
Comply and evidence
- Flood risk assessment for land, buildings and access
- Flood warning subscription and response planning
- Natural flood management intervention design — leaky dams, bunds, ponds and buffer planting
Analyse and improve
- Runoff and attenuation modelling for catchment contribution
- Watercourse and ditch riparian responsibility recording
- Internal Drainage Board liability and rate record
Interactive
Tools you actually use, not screens you read
These are working interfaces inside the module — maps, calculators, planners and dashboards that respond to your own holding data.
Drainage map with performance overlay and wet spot marking
Drainage map with performance overlay and wet spot marking
MapDrainage renewal payback calculator using workable days and yield uplift
Drainage renewal payback calculator using workable days and yield uplift
CalculatorFlood risk map for the holding with warning zone overlay
Flood risk map for the holding with warning zone overlay
MapNatural flood management siting tool using terrain and flow accumulation
Natural flood management siting tool using terrain and flow accumulation
ToolDitch and watercourse maintenance schedule generator
Ditch and watercourse maintenance schedule generator
ToolEnd to end
How Drainage & Flood runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Locate and map the existing system
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Assess performance field by field
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Prioritise maintenance and renewal
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Appraise the investment case
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Assess flood risk and set up warnings
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Design natural flood management where funded
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Deliver and record works
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Monitor performance and workable days
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Who uses it
Built around four real jobs, not one generic user
Each of these people needs something different from the same record. The module is designed so none of them has to work around the others.
Heavy land farmer
Workability constrained
Needs to know where the drains actually are before spending on renewal.
Floodplain farmer
Regular inundation
Needs warning, response planning and a funded alternative land use.
Drainage contractor
Installation and maintenance
Needs an accurate existing-system map to work from.
Catchment partnership
Natural flood management
Needs coordinated intervention siting across multiple holdings.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Countryside Stewardship
Fund more complex, targeted and bespoke habitat management than the main incentive offer supports.
Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency EnglandEnvironmental Land Management Capital Grants
Fund capital works supporting environmental outcomes — boundaries, water, air quality, natural flood management and infrastructure.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency EnglandWater Management Grant
Fund on-farm water storage and efficient irrigation to secure water supply and reduce abstraction pressure.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency EnglandSustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Pay farmers for environmental actions taken alongside food production, as the principal replacement for area-based direct payments in England.
Defra / Rural Payments AgencyRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Drainage system mapped
- 02Workable days gained
- 03Wet spots resolved
- 04Flood events with an executed response plan
- 05NFM storage volume created
Obligation calendar
What drainage & flood asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
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February 1 entry
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3 February: Animal Health and Welfare Pathway
Rolling application.
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April 2 entries
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12 April: Appraise the investment case
A recurring step in drainage & flood.
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20 April: Adding Value Grant
Round-based.
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June 4 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
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17 June: Locate and map the existing system
A recurring step in drainage & flood.
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18 June: Prioritise maintenance and renewal
A recurring step in drainage & flood.
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July 2 entries
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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17 July: Water Management Grant
Round-based.
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October 1 entry
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5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
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November 3 entries
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9 November: Assess performance field by field
A recurring step in drainage & flood.
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12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
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27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
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December 1 entry
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26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
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Payment schedule
What is due, and when it lands
Farm support arrives in instalments from several bodies on different calendars. Set against your own overdraft, the question is not how much but when — so the ledger is ordered by date, not by scheme.
| When | Payment | From | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Expected |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Agreed |
| June | Water Management Grant | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| December | Farming Equipment and Technology Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| February | Farming Transformation Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
- — Agreed and scheduled
- — Claimed, awaiting payment
- — Eligible, unclaimed
What the statuses mean
- Agreed
- Under a signed agreement with a scheduled payment date.
- Expected
- Claimed and assessed; payment date per the published standard.
- Eligible
- Your holding appears to qualify but nothing is claimed yet.
Questions answered
What people ask about Drainage & Flood
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in Drainage & Flood is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Damaging unmapped drains during operations. Mitigated by mapping first. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Documents
Take it away with you
Everything here is printable and works on a kitchen table with no signal. Where a document asks for an email address, it says so on the button rather than after you press it.
Finding the Drains: Mapping, Maintaining and Renewing Field Drainage
The practical handbook for drainage & flood: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
drainage & flood — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
drainage & flood — record template
The record structure the module uses, as a spreadsheet, so a business not yet on the platform can start keeping it correctly today.
Data model reference
Entities, fields and integration points for drainage & flood, for advisers and software partners.
See Drainage & Flood running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours