Canvey Island barriers spanning Benfleet Creek to the north and East Haven Creek in the west. The drainage system consists of sewers, culverts, natural and artificial dykes and lakes which feed seven pumping stations and gravity sluices that discharge the water into the Thames and creeks. Four of the discharge sites are "high flow" stations capable of discharging 600 litres of water per second at any tide level. The levels within the system are managed by a further five "low flow" pumping stations. The Environment Agency's Thames Estuary 2100 flood defence plan includes Canvey Island as one site for alleviating the flood
River Sheppey River Sheppey The River Sheppey has its source in a group of springs west of the village of Doulting, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, England. It flows through the wetlands to the north of the Polden Hills and ultimately joins the River Brue. From Doulting, the Sheppey flows south west to Charlton, where parts of its course have been culverted. The river has been diverted underground for much, though not all, of its passage through Shepton Mallet. It reappears at Darshill and then flows south west through Croscombe to Dinder where it flows through the grounds of Dinder House which