The derivation of the name Ea for the beck has at least two possibilities: Oliver Rackham suggested that the name Ea indicates a drained or altered river-course, which was a common Anglo-Saxon term for drained fenland rivers in East Anglia, Hampshire and the peatlands of Yorkshire around the River Don.

[10][11] Doncaster Council suggest that the Ea Beck is the watercourse formed by the confluence of The Skell and Hampole Dike, downstream of Humber Head Bridge.

[13] The course of the beck has been heavily altered, especially in its lower reaches, due to the coal seams found in that area which needed to be free from water ingress.

[14] Mining subsidence has led to the beck being modified with raised banks and pumps to effectively drain the water away.

[12] Colliery pumping programmes and raised banks along the river's course were implemented under the Doncaster Drainage Act of 1929.

Furthest to the west is Hague Hall Beck, which rises just above the 70-metre (230 ft) contour near the A628 road to the south of Hemsworth.

It then runs along the northern edge of the railway track, making a small diversion to pass under the embankment of the Dearne Valley line.

It is then labelled Hampole Dyke, and there is a straight section beside the railway, with the remains of a former loop on the south side of the tracks.

The next tributary is The Skell, which rises between Upton and North Elmsall, and passes through Wrangbrook, Skelbrooke and Skellow, as it heads south-eastwards.

Now known as Bowling Alley Drain, it feeds Goosepool pumping station, which returns water to the Old Ea Beck.

There is a sharp bend with a bridge which formerly carried a railway from Bullcroft Main Colliery, with Duck Holt pumping station immediately downstream.

Sandall Nooking and Norwood pumping stations are on the right bank, before the river makes a sharp turn to the north-east and becomes Thorpe Marsh Drain.

[26][27] There are pointing doors at the junction, which are designed to shut when levels in the Don exceed those in the EA Beck, to prevent water flowing back up the river and causing flooding.

On the upstream side of the sluice structure is a vertical penstock, which can be lowered if debris prevents the pointing doors from closing properly.

[30] As a result, 6 miles (9.7 km) of the banks of the Ea Beck from the A1 Humber Head Bridge to its mouth were raised and strengthened using waste from Bullcroft Colliery and some fill that was dug up locally.

A major part of that scheme involved raising the banks of the Ea Beck for about 2.5 miles (4 km).

[33] The Yorkshire Regional Flood Defence Committee approved further modifications to the banks in April 1990, as they were thought to be unstable and in poor condition.

Four pumping stations were built in the area, which are operated by Danvm Drainage Commissioners, but funded by UK Coal, because the subsidence is related to mining.

Emergency defences and pumps were installed to prevent severe disruption to electricity supplies in the area if the sub-station did become flooded.

[39] As the beck is slow moving, the lower reaches nearer to the River Don are colonised by pond water-starwort (callitriche stagnalis).

[26] Flooding on the beck is quite common, though in June 2007, water overtopped the banks and inundated the villages of Toll Bar and Bentley.

[40][41] The tidal flood gates at the mouth of the River, were installed to prevent a backflow upriver from the Don.

There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish.

Reasons for the quality being less than good include discharges from sewage treatment works, physical modification of the channel, and runoff from urban areas and agricultural land.

Like most rivers in the UK, the chemical status changed from good to fail in 2019, due to the presence of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and mercury compounds, none of which had previously been included in the assessment.