Inland Water Safety
Inland waterways include; navigable rivers and canals, un-navigable rivers and streams, lochs and lakes, reservoirs, amenity sites and ponds, flooded gravel pits and other ex-industrial locations. There are more than 30 navigation authorities in the UK, the three largest being British Waterways, the Environment Agency and the Broads Authority. Together they manage some 5,000km of navigable inland waterways, including about 2,000km of canal. A further 900kms is managed but un-navigable and about 2,100km is presently classed as "abandoned".
There are 1,082 enclosed water bodies that are 1 hectare or larger. In addition there are then many kilometers of streams and rivers that are neither managed or navigable. The inland waterways of the UK are therefore extensive and there is much opportunity for supervised and unsupervised public use.
Water bodies are often owned and managed directly by local councils who have a duty to promote access to water and can use legal powers to manage water recreational activities. A number of Local Authorities are themselves navigation authorities and manage rivers and canals as popular leisure resources.
In terms of water safety advice, much of what is available that pertains to inland water sites is aimed at people navigating the waterways by boat. There is little generic water safety guidance for the public and operators. There is also poor awareness by operators of what guidance is available.
There is little to assist site managers decide how far they have to go to protect the public. Yet inland water sites are the most common location for drowning in the UK. Year on year, between 55% and 66% of all deaths by drowning occur at inland water sites.
Details of drowning trends at inland water sites can be found on the facts and figures pages.
Latest |
| National Water Safety Congress 2008 more info |
| Safety Issues Group - Position table Sept. 2007 published |
| Inland water navigation signs now published |
| Boatmasters licenses -Online information |
