The Hagg CSO

Storm overflow run by Northumbrian Water, discharging into Trib Of River Balder.

Storm overflow on the sewer network Bishop Auckland constituency
Right now
Not discharging
Last discharge ended on (46 days ago).
Times are UK time. Company feed updated just now

"Not discharging" means the company's monitor reports no discharge right now — not that the water is clean. The feed publishes status only; no discharge volume is measured.

2026 so far
17spills
15 h discharging on 16 days · live feed, before 28 Feb via Top of the Poops, not yet official
2025 official
25spills
33 h · −44% on 2024
Rank in Northumbrian Water
#416
of 1,547 overflows by 2025 spills (1 = most)
Monitor in 2025
86.9% working
Long-term average 34.4 spills a year

Year by year

The Environment Agency's official annual returns, counted the EA's way (12/24-hour spills). 2026 is our own running count, the same way, from the live feed: our own log of it begins on 28 February, and the discharges before that are Top of the Poops' record of the same feed. The official figure is published next spring.

2021
9 spills · 10 hmonitor 32.4%
2022
39 spills · 120 hmonitor 73.4%
2023
60 spills · 277 hmonitor 97.5%
2024
45 spills · 164 hmonitor 100%
2025
25 spills · 33 hmonitor 86.9%
2026so far
17 spills · 15 h

A spill is the EA's 12/24-hour count: the first 12 hours of a discharge count as one, each further 24 hours with discharge as one more. "Monitor" is the share of that year the monitor was working, so a 0 beside a working monitor is a real zero; "no data" means the monitor produced no usable data that year — not zero. Years before 2024 are matched to this site by name and location, because the EA's site IDs changed that year; a monitor figure beside one of them means the outlet's permit confirms the match.

Downstream of this overflow

The next gauge downstream that the river map places is Barnard Castle (River Tees), 6.0 km along the river.

Water-sampling points downstream

The nearest Environment Agency sampling points the river map places below Barnard Castle. Points between this overflow and that gauge cannot be put in order with it on the map, so they are not listed.

A sample is dated: it is not the river now, and its results are on its own page. A sample taken after a discharge does not show that the discharge caused what was measured. Samples: Environment Agency Water Quality Archive, © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

A river gauge measures the level of the river; it does not measure this overflow's discharge, and a spill does not by itself explain a change there. Traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

What the 2025 return says

From Northumbrian Water's annual return to the Environment Agency for this overflow.

High-spill review
High spill threshold not met
Long-term review
Performance - SW Infiltration
Investigation
Operational investigation completed
Improvement work
Operational improvement ongoing
Monitored since
2013
Water body
Balder Catchment (trib of Tees)

"High spill threshold not met" means this overflow did not spill often enough to trigger the EA's formal high-spill review for that year. It is not a statement that the spills were harmless.

Discharges we have recorded

352 discharge periods since 9 Jan 2020. 318 of them come from Northumbrian Water's own event-duration-monitoring records (published on Stream, Jan 2020 – Dec 2024); the live feed adds anything after that. The official annual count is the figure to quote.

Show 30 earlier (of 352)
StartedEndedDischarge time
6 min
2 min
24 min
54 min
4 min
6 h 8 min
1 h 48 min
14 min
1 h 10 min
26 min
1 min
1 min
2 min
2 min
2 min
18 min
2 min
2 min
14 min
4 min
8 min
2 min
3 min
39 min
1 h 47 min
12 min
8 min
16 min
16 min
2 min

The year figures above use the EA's 12/24-hour counting method, so they are comparable with the official figures; the monitor log's 783 raw blocks were merged into 352 continuous discharge periods (gaps under 15 min joined).

What the feed showed

FloodRadar's own record of every change of state Northumbrian Water's live feed has shown for this overflow, kept since : 1 state. The feed publishes its status now and its latest discharge, nothing older; the discharges above are read from this. It is here so the figures can be checked.

Show the last 1 states
SeenStatusSinceLatest discharge
Not discharging →

Rain nearby last 30 days

Nearest live rain gauge: Rainfall gauge nr Cotherstone, 1.5 km away. Brown shading = when this overflow was discharging; ▼ = a discharge start.

Overflow shading is a timing match, not proof of cause — heavy rain and spills share a trigger. Times come from the water company’s event-duration monitor (site status only; no discharge volume is published).

Where it is

Nearest river gauge
Barnard Castle (River Tees) · 4.9 km
Nearest rain gauge
Council area
County Durham
Site reference
NWL01362 · permit 251/0862
Coordinates
54.57422, -1.98446

Tell me when this overflow discharges

One message when the company's monitor reports a new discharge here. At most one every 6 hours.

Setting this alert needs JavaScript. The alerts you already have are on your alerts page.

The alert repeats the monitor's status: whether the overflow is discharging, not how much or why. It can only tell you about a discharge that starts after you turn it on.

Concerned about this overflow?

Report pollution you can see or smell to the regulator straight away; the company handles complaints about the overflow itself.

Write to the MP

The Environment Agency's return places this overflow in the Bishop Auckland constituency. An MP can ask the company and the regulator questions on a constituent's behalf. These words carry the official figures; change them as you like.

The link opens Parliament's own "Find your MP", which gives the MP's name and how to write to them. FloodRadar sends nothing and keeps nothing you write. Check the constituency against your own address: an MP acts only for people who live in it.

Live status: © Northumbrian Water storm overflow activity data, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Annual spill figures: Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring return, © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence (OGL) v3.0. Storm-overflow spill events: © the respective water company, published on Stream (data.streamwaterdata.co.uk) under CC BY 4.0. Discharges marked "via Top of the Poops", and this year's figures before 28 February, come from Top of the Poops' record of the same company feed, used under CC BY-SA 4.0: the feed's own start and end times as its pages print them, not their derived hours. Times are shown in UK local time. FloodRadar republishes the monitor's status and the EA's figures; it does not measure discharges itself. Constituency and council area from the EA's return: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.