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An inspection of a culvert, its trash screen and outlet, done from the bank or a safe platform and never from inside. Record the watercourse, the structure and why you are inspecting, then the water level and flow, and check the channel upstream, the trash screen and its bars, the headwall and wing walls, the banks, the outlet and safe access, each with what is wrong. Record the debris found and whether it was cleared, with photos. The form warns when a blockage could cause flooding, ends with an optional Walk Cam route, and records who it was reported to and actions. Every question is listed below, and you can fill the live form in on this page.
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In England, GOV.UK says you normally own the stretch of watercourse on or under your land, including a culvert, and that owners must let water flow naturally and should keep any trash screen, weir or other structure clear. It also says do not go inside a culvert, as you could get trapped or poisoned by gases: if it needs clearing or repairing, contact your risk management authority, which is the Environment Agency for a main river or the lead local flood authority or internal drainage board for other watercourses.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 17 October 2026 against GOV.UK: owning a watercourse (Environment Agency) and Environment Agency: culvert, screens and outfall manual (project summary).
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Open the completed example to see fictional readings, notes, photos and calculations. Choose Blank form to try entering your own answers.
Want to see one filled in? See a completed culvert inspection report (PDF), made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit.
Walk Cam route · four guided clips
Film the watercourse into the culvert, the screen and any debris, the headwall and the outlet, all from the bank.
Record the location, watercourse, date and water level. Stay on the bank and never enter the water or the culvert. The four AI-generated clips illustrate one route, not a real culvert.
Show the watercourse leading to the culvert and the water level, from the bank. Do not enter the water.
A small stream runs between grassy banks towards a culvert under a lane.
Film the screen or grille and any debris caught on it, from the bank or a safe platform.
Branches and leaves are caught on the culvert's metal trash screen.
Show the headwall, wing walls and banks for cracks, missing blocks and erosion.
The concrete headwall has a crack and the bank beside it is eroded.
Walk round to the outlet and film flow and any blockage. Never go inside a culvert.
Water flows freely from the culvert outlet into the stream.
A fictional six-page example with the four points, twelve stills from the clips, observations, follow-up actions and the limits of a visual record.
View the visual evidence (PDF) ↗ · Download the full sample report
Video records what can be seen from outside. It cannot show the inside of the culvert, its structural condition or flood capacity. Example footage was generated in Google Flow and the observations are scripted; no real site is shown. Walk Cam works inside any form in the app. How Walk Cam works · All visual inspections
A culvert and trash screen inspection from the bank: watercourse and water level, flow, screen and debris, headwall, wing walls, banks and outlet, debris cleared, photos, who was told and actions. Never enter a culvert. 3 sections and 56 questions. Follow-up questions and guidance appear only when an answer calls for them, so the person on site never sees the ones that do not apply.
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Optional. Mark the culvert inlet or screen from the bank, so the next inspector and the authority find it.
Record estimated current conditions and add what you observe on site.
Optional. From the asset record or drawing, soffit to bed, or measure from a photo taken square on from the bank (an estimate). Do not enter the water.
Optional. Measure from a photo taken square on from the bank, using a known size in the same plane such as the screen width or the opening height from the asset record. Do not enter the water.
Your estimate from the bank, before any clearing.
Optional. From the owner's maintenance plan for this screen.
Optional. Film the four guided points on the SiteSurvey app; each clip keeps its spoken note.
Set by the owner's own inspection regime. Also inspect before forecast heavy rain and after a flood or storm.
A visual record from outside the culvert. It is not a confined space entry, a structural survey, a hydraulic assessment or permission to work in a watercourse.
Screen, structure and flow findings
Record what can be seen from the bank: debris on the screen, cracks, erosion and how freely water flows. Say who it was reported to and the reference.
Branches and plastic across the lower third of the screen, flow slowed. Raked clear from the platform and reported to the council drainage team.
Fictional example of record wording. Use the actual evidence and approved arrangements for your job; this is not a completed report or an instruction to carry out the work.
A completed culvert inspection report, made by SiteSurvey from a fictional site visit: every answer, the photos, the guidance that applied and the sign-off, ready to send as a PDF.
No. GOV.UK says do not go inside a culvert, you could get trapped or poisoned by gases. Inspect from the bank or a safe platform and do not enter the water. The Walk Cam route is filmed the same way.
A screen or grille across the culvert entrance that catches debris before it gets inside. It only works if it is kept clear, which is why GOV.UK says owners should keep any trash screen clear. The Environment Agency's culvert, screens and outfall manual project says culverts and screens can completely restrict flow.
GOV.UK says you can report blockages which could cause flooding. The risk management authority is the Environment Agency for a main river, or the lead local flood authority or internal drainage board for any other watercourse.
GOV.UK says you must find out which permissions and licences you need to maintain, repair, build or remove anything in or around a watercourse, including a culvert, and that the authorities are unlikely to give permission to build a new culvert.
Set your own routine, and add checks before forecast heavy rain and after a flood, storm or report of a blockage. The form records which it was.
Council parks and highways teams, estates and grounds managers, farmers and landowners, golf courses, rail and road operators and drainage boards.
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