longer under control, and it continually runs to waste. There had been four years of below average rainfall in the late 1980s, resulting in the Bourne Eau drying up again, and the National Rivers Authority undertook a project to seal or repair 30 wild boreholes located to the east of Bourne, between August 1991 and October 1992. Most had been drilled in the later 19th century to supply the isolated farms that were established when the fens were drained. Initially they had been drilled by hand, but later, steam engines were used, with most of them being constructed by J E Noble of Thurlby. The repairs were estimated to retain 7.5 Mld within the aquifer during dry periods, and as much as 18 Mld when conditions were more normal. One obvious benefit of the work was that water again began to flow into St Peters Pool, and Bourne Eau flowed for the first time in several years, although this may have been aided by a very wet winter in 1992. Land drainage Once Bourne Eau leaves the town of Bourne, it passes through fenland. Until 1772, land on both sides of the river was treated as one unit, but an Act of Parliament obtained in 1772 split the North Fen, to the north of the river, and the South Fen, to the south of the river, into two separate drainage districts. Prior to that, rents had been payable to the Black Sluice Commissioners to fund the work they did on the drainage network. An enclosure act was obtained in 1776, covering the North Fen and fenland in the hamlets of Dyke and Cawthorpe. After dealing will the allocation of land for use as cow parture, it included a clause that ensured that the Well Head would be protected, and its water would continue to feed into Bourne Eau. Maintenance of the south bank of the river was proving difficult, because there was a lack of soil within of the bank, and this distance had previously been specified as the limits for obtaining material for repairs. The enclosure act extended this to . The North Fen drained by gravity into the South Forty-Foot Drain, but the owners wanted to improve the drainage. They intended to use steam engines to pump the water out of the fen and into the South Forty-Foot Drain, but the Black Sluice Commissioners objected to the proposal,