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River Beal water levels

Live levels from 3 monitoring stations across Greater Manchester, updated every 15 minutes.

3stations
0above typical high

Gauges

Monitoring stations, source to mouth

StationTownLevel nowStatusTrend
Bridge Street ShawShaw0.17 m 31m agoNormal—
Beal BridgeNewhey0.17 m 31m agoNormal—
Station RoadMilnrow0.23 m 31m agoNormal—

Stations are listed from source to mouth as the water flows, traced on the river map (OS Open Rivers) and the Environment Agency’s own links between its gauges. A distance “by river” is along the river, and is shown only where the map traces the path.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Gauged tributaries

Streams and rivers with a gauge whose water joins the Beal above one of its gauges, from the source down. Named streams without a gauge that have a page here are listed at the end.

No gauged tributary joins the Beal above Station Road on the river map. Streams without a gauge are not counted here.

Where the Beal goes

Below Station Road, its water next reaches Albert Royds Bridge, a gauge on River Roch, 3.8 km by river downstream.

Tributaries and where they join are traced on the river map (OS Open Rivers, edition 2026-04) and the Environment Agency’s links between its gauges. The map holds distances between gauges, not the junctions themselves, so a junction is placed between two gauges, and no further up than the tributary’s own lowest gauge. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Streams without a gauge

Named streams on the river map that flow into the Beal and have no gauge of their own. Each has a page with what is known about it: the next gauge downstream, and any storm overflows or water-sampling points placed on it.

Storm overflows upstream

3 storm overflows are traced upstream of Station Road, the Beal’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Beal itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.

  • 0 report discharging now
  • 3 not discharging
  • 0 offline or silent: 0 monitor offline, 0 status unknown, 0 no live feed

Official figures for 2025, for the overflows traced upstream of Station Road: 22 spills over 178 hours in total, across all 3.

Each overflow is listed in the stretch above the first gauge its water reaches, from the source down, as on the Gauges tab. A stretch of the Beal includes the smaller streams that join it there.

Between Beal Bridge and Station Road3 overflows
  • Peppermint Bridge CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Piethorne Brook Trib Rvr Beal · 3.2 km by river above Station Road · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Shaw Road CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into River Beal · 1.6 km by river above Station Road · 2025: 2 spills, 3.8 h
  • Shaw Main Outfall Not discharging
    United Utilities · into River Beal · 1.5 km by river above Station Road · 2025: 20 spills, 174 h

Near these gauges, connection not known

Within 3 km of one of the Beal’s gauges in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water reaches it.

  • Cowlishaw CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Luzley Brook · 1.9 km from Bridge Street Shaw in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 4 spills, 9.9 h
  • Fir Lane Combined Sewer Overflow Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Unnamed Tributary Of River Irk · 2.4 km from Bridge Street Shaw in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 4 spills, 4.7 h
  • Belfield Road/Beswicke Royds St CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Sanney Brook · 2.5 km from Station Road in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it · 2025: 40 spills, 93 h
  • 674 Ripponden Road CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Clvrt'd Section Hodge Clough · 2.7 km from Bridge Street Shaw in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 23 spills, 63 h
  • Horest Lane Combined Sewer Overflow Not discharging
    United Utilities · into River Tame · 2.9 km from Bridge Street Shaw in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Dyehouse Lane CSO Not discharging
    United Utilities · into Ash Brook · 3.0 km from Station Road in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure · 2025: 11 spills, 1.2 h

16 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Beal’s lowest gauge or on another river, so not listed.

A status is the water company’s own monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, never how much or why, and a spill does not by itself explain a change in a river level. A status older than two hours is shown as unknown. Annual figures are the official returns: 12/24-hour spills for England and Wales, overflow events for Scotland (Scottish Water counts differently, so the two cannot be compared). “No data” means the monitor produced no usable data that year, not zero. Overflows are placed on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels: an overflow the map cannot place may still drain here. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026. Sewage in Britain’s rivers →

Live status: © United Utilities storm overflow activity data, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Annual figures for England: Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring return, © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Water samples

Dated samples taken by the Environment Agency, not live readings. Results are published days to months after the sample is taken, and many points are sampled only a few times a year, or have not been sampled for years.

3 sampling points on the River Beal and the streams that join it above Station Road, and below it. 1 has a sample from the last 12 months; 1 has any sample banked. Listed from the source down, grouped by the next gauge each one's water reaches.

Above Station Road River Beal 2 points, 1 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Above the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
Piethorn Brook upstream of Ogden Reservoirunnamed stream4.8 km24 Jul 2026 · 2 months agopH 7.71
River Beal upstream of Piethorn BrookRiver Beal2.3 kmLast sampled 7 Mar 2017, before the imported period
Below Station Road 1 point, 0 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Below the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
River Beal above confluence with RochRiver Beal3.1 kmLast sampled 16 Feb 2023, before the imported period

Distances are along the river to the gauge named. England's samples only.

FloodRadar does not grade these results: there is no overall score, and official river classifications are a separate dataset. A sample taken downstream of an overflow does not by itself show where anything in it came from. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels.

Water samples: Environment Agency Water Quality Archive, © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.