The River Eau ( ) is a tributary of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

that flows through

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The Eau catchment lies between that of the Bottesford Beck to the north, and the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

to the south and east, and covers an area of . The river is one of the few notable streams that drain the right bank of the tidal Trent. The source of the river is near Harpswell, at the foot of the

Lincolnshire Edge The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through the historic divisions of Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of the ...

, and it joins the tidal River Trent at Susworth. Unlike other rivers that drain into the tidal Trent, there is no pumping station associated with the outfall, it relies on gravity to discharge during periods of tidal

low water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide ...

. The Eau flows through the village of

Scotter __NOTOC__ Scotter is a large village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Lindsey, Lincolnshire, England, situated between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough.OS Explorer Map 280: Isle of Axholme, Scunthorpe ...

, which has a history of being flooded by the river; the most recent occasion was in June 2007. The river is also important for the drainage of the flat low-lying agricultural land that surrounds it, with some 2000 hectares or of the Gainsborough

Internal Drainage Board An internal drainage board (IDB) is a type of operating authority which is established in areas of special drainage need in England and Wales with permissive powers to undertake work to secure clean water drainage and water level management wit ...

district, relying on the Eau for this function. Whilst the drains that discharge into the Eau are maintained by the Drainage Board, the river is the responsibility of the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

being designated as a

Main river The Main () is the longest tributary of the Rhine, one of the major European rivers. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, ...

. Its tributaries are Northorpe Beck, Manton Sewer and Dar Beck.Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 Scale Colour Raster map West Common Drain - geograph

References

{{authority control 1Eau

Eau Eau or EAU may refer to: * The French word for water ** O (Cirque du Soleil), a water-themed stage production * Eau (trigraph), a trigraph of the Latin script * EAU, the IATA code for the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Wisconsin, United State ...

See also

References