River Boards were authorities who controlled land drainage, fisheries and river pollution and had other functions relating to rivers, streams and inland waters in England and Wales between 1950 and 1965.
The boards were established by the River Boards Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6., C. 32), and replaced the Catchment Boards that had been created in 1931. They were given powers to regulate fisheries and took over the duties of flood prevention on main rivers from local authorities. England and Wales (except the Thames and Lee catchment areas, the County of London and some adjoining areas) was divided into River Board Areas, each with a board partly nominated by county councils and county borough corporations, and partly appointed by the government.
The Act allowed that "orders defining river board areas and establishing river boards may be made at different times for different areas". It was not until 1955 that all the boards had been established.
| River Board | Former Catchment Boards |
|---|---|
| Avon and Dorset | |
| Bristol Avon | Avon (Bristol) |
| Cheshire | Weaver |
| Cornwall | |
| Cumberland | Waver and Wampool |
| Dee and Clwyd | Clwyd, Dee |
| East Suffolk and Norfolk | East Norfolk Rivers (including the river Waveney), East Suffolk Rivers, North Norfolk Rivers |
| East Sussex | Cuckmere, Old Haven (Pevensey) and Bulverhythe Stream, Ouse (Sussex), Rother and Jury's Gut |
| Essex | Essex Rivers, Roding, Stour (Essex and Suffolk) |
| Devon | |
| Glamorgan | Thaw |
| Great Ouse | Ouse (Great) |
| Gwynedd | Anglesey Rivers, Conway, Dysynni, Prysor |
| Hampshire | Avon and Stour |
| Hull and East Yorkshire | Hull |
| Isle of Wight | |
| Kent | Kent, Medway, Romney and Denge Marsh Main Drains, Stour (Kent) |
| Lancashire | Crossens, Douglas, Lune, Wyre |
| Lincolnshire | Ancholme and Winterton Beck, Welland, Witham and Steeping River |
| Mersey | Alt, Mersey and Irwell |
| Nene | Nene |
| Northumberland and Tyneside | |
| Severn | Severn |
| Somerset | Somerset Rivers |
| South West Wales | |
| Trent | Trent |
| Usk | |
| Wear and Tees | |
| Welland | |
| West Sussex | Adur, Arun |
| Wye | Wye |
| Yorkshire Ouse | Derwent, Ouse (Yorkshire) |
The river boards were replaced by twenty-seven river authorities on April 1, 1965, under the Water Resources Act 1963. The new authorities comprised the area of one or two river boards.