Pix Brook

Pix Brook is 7.931 kilometres (4.9 miles) in length.^[5] When measured in 2022, the brook had a moderate ecological status. Its hydromorphological designation is 'heavily modified',^[5] meaning it fails to achieve good ecological status owing to significant man-made alterations to its natural physical character.^[6] Environment Agency data gives the Pix Brook a catchment area of 15.505 square kilometres (6.0 sq mi). It is one of twenty water bodies making up the Ivel Operational Catchment.^[5]

Pix Brook, approximately 7.931 km (4.928 mi) long and draining a catchment area of about 15.505 km² (5.987 sq mi), rises from springs at Norton Common in Letchworth Garden City and flows through Letchworth and Arlesey before joining the River Ivel at Stotfold.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The Letchworth Sewage Treatment Works operated by Anglian Water discharges treated waste water into Pix Brook.^[11]

In Letchworth the brook is culverted through Howard Park, and the roadway of Rushby Mead bordering the eastern edge of the park follows the curves of the brook.^[12]

A study published in the mid-1990s described Pix Brook as a shallow stream over a bed of coarse-grained calcareous gravel and sand, noting its 'relatively steep' gradient fall of 2.8 metres (9.2 ft) per km in comparison to the less than 1 metre (3.3 ft) per km fall of the River Ivel.^[13] At Norton Common local nature reserve, mineral-rich springs supply the brook.^[14]

A school named Pix Brook Academy was initially based at Etonbury Academy from 2019 but a year later moved to newly constructed facilities in Stotfold.^[15]

Pix Brook flooded on 4 July 2015 with five properties in Stotfold affected. A formal investigation by Central Bedfordshire Council determined the flooding was likely caused by torrential rain over stretching the drainage system, compounded by wood and watercress debris clogging up a culvert trash screen installed earlier that year by The Bedfordshire and River Ivel Internal Drainage Board.^[11]