Waterbarn Street/Barden Lane CSO
Storm overflow run by United Utilities, discharging into River Irwell.
"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.
Year by year
The Environment Agency's official annual returns, counted the EA's way (12/24-hour spills).
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.
Other outlets here
United Utilities runs 2 other overflows within 300 m that also discharge into River Irwell. They share the sewer and the storm, so one outlet's figures are only part of what reaches the water.
This overflow (Waterbarn Street/Barden Lane Combined Sewer Overflow): 0 spills in 2025. Distances are between the published outlet points. The names in brackets are United Utilities's own, from its return.
Downstream of this overflow
The next gauge downstream that the river map places is Holt Mill Bridge (River Irwell), 1.6 km along the river.
Water-sampling points downstream
The nearest Environment Agency sampling points the river map places below Holt Mill Bridge. Points between this overflow and that gauge cannot be put in order with it on the map, so they are not listed.
- River Irwell at Groundwork Rossendale
5.2 km along the river, below Holt Mill Bridge · Last sampled 22 Sep 2005, before the imported period - River Irwell at Holme Bridge Townsend
5.7 km along the river, below Holt Mill Bridge · Last sampled 24 Aug 2005, before the imported period - River Irwell at Ewood Bridge
7.0 km along the river, below Holt Mill Bridge · Last sampled 5 Oct 2026 · 22 days ago
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 United Utilities's annual return to the Environment Agency for this overflow.
"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
1 discharge period since 18 Jul 2025. Recorded from the live status feed only — United Utilities has not published an event-level log we hold, so this is what the feed has shown us, not a complete record. The official annual count is the figure to quote.
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4 min
The year figures above use the EA's 12/24-hour counting method, so they are comparable with the official figures.
Rain nearby last 30 days
Nearest live rain gauge: Rainfall gauge nr Weir, 4.1 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
Concerned about this overflow?
Report pollution you can see or smell to the regulator straight away; the company handles complaints about the overflow itself.
Annual spill figures: Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring return, © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence (OGL) v3.0. 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.