Statutory Main River Map

Statutory Main Rivers Map is a spatial (polyline) dataset that defines statutory watercourses in England designated as Main Rivers by the Environment Agency.

Watercourses designated as ‘main river’ are generally the larger arterial watercourses. The Environment Agency has permissive powers, but not a duty, to carry out maintenance, improvement or construction work on designated main rivers.

All other open water courses in England are determined by statute as an ‘ordinary watercourse’. On these watercourses the Lead Local flood Authority or, if within an Internal Drainage District, the Internal Drainage Board have similar permissive powers to maintain and improve. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved.

Data and Resources

Data Version.txtTXT

Data Version.txt download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_Rivers_Documentation.pdfPDF

Statutory_Main_Rivers_Documentation.pdf download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_River_Map.gdb.zipZIP

Statutory_Main_River_Map.gdb.zip download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_River_Map.geojson.zipZIP

Statutory_Main_River_Map.geojson.zip download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_River_Map.gpkg.zipZIP

Statutory_Main_River_Map.gpkg.zip download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_River_Map.lyr

Statutory_Main_River_Map.lyr download on Defra Data Services Platform
Statutory_Main_River_Map.shp.zipZIP

Statutory_Main_River_Map.shp.zip download on Defra Data Services Platform
StatutoryMainRiverMap_Download

Download data by area of interest
StatutoryMainRiverMap_WMS

Statutory Main River Map - WMS
StatutoryMainRiverMap_WFS

Statutory Main River Map - WFS
OGC API - Features service

OGC API - Features service

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	October 24, 2025, 14:47 (UTC)
Created	September 30, 2015, 10:35 (UTC)