Editing New Bedford River (section)

==Land drainage==
The area between the New Bedford River and the Great Ouse now lies at an average of {{convert|6.6|ft|m|0}} below mean sea level, and three times that distance below the highest levels that tides normally reach. The low lying land is managed by the Littleport and Downham [[Internal Drainage Board]], the successors to the Littleport and Downham Drainage Commissioners which were established by [[Act of Parliament]] in 1756. This act enabled the land to be enclosed, and the district has relied on pumped drainage ever since. The board are now responsible for {{convert|32242|acre|ha|sigfig=5}} of fen land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elydrainageboards.co.uk/internal-drainage-boards/littleport-downham/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123231456/http://www.elydrainageboards.co.uk/internal-drainage-boards/littleport-downham/ |archive-date=23 January 2021 |url-status=live |title=Littleport & Downham |publisher=Ely Drainage Boards}}</ref> Water from the district is pumped into the New Bedford River by the Hundred Foot and Oxlode pumping stations, and into the Great Ouse by the Ten Mile, Moors, and Wood Fen pumping stations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elydrainageboards.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Littleport-Downham.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211230172436/http://www.elydrainageboards.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Littleport-Downham.pdf |archive-date=30 December 2021 |url-status=live |title=Littleport & Downham District Map |publisher=Ely Drainage Boards}}</ref>
[[File:Oxlode Pumping Station - geograph.org.uk - 1979810.jpg|thumb|right|Oxlode pumping station on the banks of the New Bedford River]]
The 1756 act was consolidated by further Acts of Parliament obtained in 1800 and 1810. By the early 1800s, drainage was achieved by 80 wind pumps, but in 1818, the first steam-powered pumping station was built at Ten Mile Bank, by the Great Ouse.{{sfn |Hinde |2006 |p=126}} This was followed in 1830 by the Hundred Foot pumping station on the banks of the New Bedford River. It replaced Westmoor Mills, where two wind pumps raised the water in two stages. The new plant consisted of a beam engine manufactured by the [[Butterley Company]] and rated at {{convert|80|hp|kW|abbr=on}}. Steam was produced by two boilers, with a third added in November 1843. Butterley replaced the first two boilers in 1869, and James Watt replaced the third in 1875. They were all replaced by high pressure [[Lancashire boiler]]s in 1911. Originally, the engine drove a scoop wheel which was {{convert|37.4|ft|m}} in diameter, but in 1881 this was replaced by the largest scoop wheel used in the Fens, which was {{convert|50|ft|m}} in diameter. There were continual problems with the land levels dropping due to shrinkage of the peat, resulting in the intake needing to be lowered. The beam engine was replaced by a {{convert|400|hp|kW|abbr=on}} vertical steam engine manufactured by [[Gwynnes Limited|Gwynnes]] in 1914, linked to a {{convert|50|in|cm|adj=on}} Gwynnes pump. In 1926, a Mirlees diesel engine was installed to supplement the steam engine, until that was replaced by a [[Ruston (engine builder)|Ruston and Hornsby]] diesel engine in 1951. In 1965, the Mirlees engine was sold, and a new electric station was built in 1985, although the Ruston engine and the 1911 boilers were retained.{{sfn |Hinde |2006 |pp=128-130}}

The electric station contains three submersible pumps, one of which failed in December 2012, after a period of heavy rain. With water levels in Pymoor Drain rising to record levels, the Ruston diesel engine was mended and pressed into service on 24 December. At the same time, the Oxlode pumping station suffered from the failure of a gate valve in a separate incident, resulting in one of the two pumps not being available for use.{{sfn |King |2013}} Plans for a pumping station at Oxlode were originally announced in 1940,{{sfn |Petty |2016 |p=21}} but it is unclear when it was opened, as a new pumping station was commissioned in July 1944, but newspapers did not print its name, due to wartime censorship.{{sfn |Petty |2016 |p=21}} A second pumping station with two electric pumps was opened in May 1962, at a cost of £65,000. Each pump could discharge 270 tons of water per minute into the New Bedford River, but the existing two diesel pumps were retained. Prior to the opening ceremony, the Drainage Commissioners held a celebration lunch at the Club Hotel, Ely, where their predecessors had met for the first time in 1756.{{sfn |Petty |2016 |p=28}}