Drainage district
Drainage districts occur in England and Wales, varying in size from a few hundred acres to over 100,000 acres (400 km2), all in low lying areas of the country where flood risk management and land drainage are sensitive issues. Most drainage districts are administered by an internal drainage board (IDB), which are single purpose local drainage authorities, dealing with the drainage and water level management of clean water only.[1] Each drainage district has a defined area, and the IDB only has powers to deal with matters affecting that area.
Special drainage districts
Special drainage districts could be created for the built-up parts of rural area in England, under the provisions of the Sewage Utilization Act 1865, Sewage Utilization Act 1867, Sanitary Act 1866 and Public Health Act 1872. The Public Health Act 1875 consolidated this legislation. The purpose of the special drainage district was to create a tax raising body to provide works in areas where there was no sanitary authority. They were renamed "special purpose areas" when rural district councils were created in 1894. The Local Government Act 1929 permitted rural district councils to absorb the district and pay for works out of the general rate. This was enforced for all such areas by the Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Act 1944 and those remaining were abolished.[2]
Chicago
Drainage districts were also used in Chicago before the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan created underground reservoirs to hold stormwater.