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Home › Rivers › River Box

River Box water levels

Live levels from 2 monitoring stations across Suffolk, updated every 15 minutes.

2stations
0above typical high

Gauges

Monitoring stations, source to mouth

StationTownLevel nowStatusTrend
BoxfordBoxford1.19 mASD 30m agoNormal—
4.7 km by river
PolsteadPolstead0.12 mASD 30m 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 Box above one of its gauges, from the source down. The river map knows where gauges are, not every stream, so a tributary without a gauge is not listed here.

No gauged tributary joins the Box above Polstead on the river map. Streams without a gauge are not counted here.

Where the Box goes

No gauge below Polstead is known on the river map.

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.

Storm overflows upstream

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

  • 0 report discharging now
  • 2 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 Polstead: 3 spills over 47 hours in total, across all 2.

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 Box includes the smaller streams that join it there.

Between Boxford and Polstead2 overflows
  • Stone Street TPS Not discharging
    Anglian Water · into The River Box · 3.7 km by river above Polstead · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Boxford Water Recycling Centre Not discharging
    Anglian Water · into The River Box · 3.5 km by river above Polstead · 2025: 3 spills, 47 h

1 other overflow within 3 km of these gauges is placed below the Box’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: © Anglian Water 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.

6 sampling points on the River Box and the streams that join it above Polstead, and below it. 2 have a sample from the last 12 months; 2 have any sample banked. Listed from the source down, grouped by the next gauge each one's water reaches.

Above Boxford River Box 2 points, 0 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Above the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
River Box Hole FarmRiver Box7.7 kmLast sampled 22 Jun 2005, before the imported period
River Box Brook House BridgeRiver Box6.4 kmLast sampled 8 Feb 2007, before the imported period
Above Polstead River Box 3 points, 1 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Above the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
River Box Boxford Bypass BridgeRiver Box4.2 kmLast sampled 17 Jan 2017, before the imported period
River Box downstream of BoxfordRiver Box4.1 km11 Aug 2026 · 58 days agoOxygen 90.2%Temp 16.2 °CpH 7.97Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l
River Box Wash Lane Ford BoxfordRiver Box3.4 kmLast sampled 3 Mar 2020, before the imported period
Below Polstead 1 point
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Below the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
River Box Thorington Street B1068 Road BridgeRiver Box4.7 km7 Sep 2026 · 31 days agoOxygen 83.7%Temp 17.9 °CpH 8.38Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l

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.

Wave tracker for this river → Suffolk rivers → All UK rivers