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In 1949 the Swansea and Monmouthshire canals were under threat of abandonment.
In 1951 better news came from the Brecon & Abergavenny Canal where local authorities were considering taking over responsibilities for maintaining the waterway.
A Rally at Brecon was organised in 1952 by IWA member Ian L Wright to promote the canal. Only a few canoes managed to arrive by water but the land based activities were well attended.
Concerns were expressed at the start of 1953 that the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive had plans to transfer canals that were not "required commercially" to local autorities or other bodies. These included some legally abandoned waterways such as the Cromford Canal, Grantham Canal and Llangollen Canal. Other canals included in the list were the Ashton Canal, Peak Forest Canal, Lancaster Canal, Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal and the southern section of the Oxford Canal. In response to this the Association continued to advocate full use and development of the whole waterways system for the benefit of all types of user and for the establishment of a National Waterways Commission covering all navigations as well as a public enquiry into the best ways of developing them.
In March 1955 the Board of Survey reported and recommended the disposal of 771 miles of waterway including some canals like the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Barnsley Canal that had already been abandoned and closed to traffic. These "Group 3" waterways also included the Ashton, Peak Forest, Macclesfield, Bridgwater and Taunton, Chesterfield, Cromford, Dearne and Dove, Erewash, Forth & Clyde, Grand Western, Grantham, Kennet & Avon, Lancaster, Manchester, Bolton & Bury, Monmouthshire & Brecon, Nottingham, Oxford (southern section), Pocklington, Ripon, Llangollen, Montgomery, Stratford-upon-Avon (southern section), Swansea and Edinburgh & Glasgow Union canals as well as the River Witham.
In response IWA advocate a National Waterway Conservancy to look after all our waterways and point out that it is cheaper to restore and use waterways than to eliminate them.
The official reopening of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal (previously called the Brecon Abergavenny Canal) from Pontypool to Brecon took place on 16 October 1970.
In 1984 the Monmouthshire, Brecon and Abergavenny Canal Trust was founded.
One of the two Inland Waterways Association National Trailboat Festivals that were held in 2000 was at Monmouth on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.
The 2004 National Trailboat Rally was held at Newport on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal.
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