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Live levels from 5 monitoring stations across Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, updated every 15 minutes.
| Station | Level now | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darwen Clough Street Overflow | 0.51 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 1.7 km by river | ||||
| Hardman Way | 0.05 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 5.6 km by river | ||||
| Ewood | 0.29 m 1h ago | Low | ||
| 730 m by river | ||||
| Blackburn Waterfall | 0.41 m 1h ago | Low | ||
| 19.0 km by river | ||||
| Blue Bridge | 0.25 m 1h ago | Low | ||
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.
Streams and rivers with a gauge whose water joins the Darwen above one of its gauges, from the source down. Named streams without a gauge that have a page here are listed at the end.
Joins the Darwen between Hardman Way and Ewood, no more than 810 m by river above Ewood.
| Ewood Ashville Terrace North | -0.04 m 1h ago | Low |
| downstream, distance by river not measured | ||
| Ewood Ashville Terrace South | -0.03 m 1h ago | Low |
Its water passes Ewood and every gauge below it on the Darwen. It does not pass Hardman Way or the gauges above it.
Joins the Darwen between Blackburn Waterfall and Blue Bridge, no more than 19.8 km by river above Blue Bridge.
| Gorse Street | 0.04 m 1h ago | Low |
| 3.5 km by river | ||
| Harrison Street | 0.41 m 1h ago | Normal |
Its water passes Blue Bridge and every gauge below it on the Darwen. It does not pass Blackburn Waterfall or the gauges above it.
Below Blue Bridge, its water next reaches Penwortham, a gauge on River Ribble, 4.5 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.
48 storm overflows are traced upstream of Blue Bridge, the Darwen’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Darwen itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.
Official figures for 2025, for the overflows traced upstream of Blue Bridge: 883 spills over 2,345 hours in total, across all 48.
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 Darwen includes the smaller streams that join it there. Where a stretch or a tributary has more than 4, the 3 discharging now or nearest its gauge are listed, the rest are counted, and every one is in that gauge’s “Upstream of here” list. Show every overflow in every stretch →
and 7 more: show all 10 overflows on this stretch → All above Hardman Way, nearest first →
and 6 more: show all 9 overflows on this stretch → All above Ewood, nearest first →
and 10 more: show all 13 overflows on this stretch → All above Blue Bridge, nearest first →
and 11 more: show all 14 overflows on the Blakewater and the streams that join it → All above Harrison Street, nearest first →
Within 3 km of one of the Darwen’s gauges in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water reaches it.
41 more near these gauges whose connection is not known.
2 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Darwen’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.
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.
26 sampling points on the River Darwen and the streams that join it above Blue Bridge. 4 have a sample from the last 12 months; 9 have any sample banked. Listed from the source down, grouped by the next gauge each one's water reaches.
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drain upstream of Jack Keys Reservoir SD7035220094 | unnamed stream | 1.0 km | Last sampled 17 May 2013, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen downstream of Jack Keys Reservoir | River Darwen | 0.4 km | Last sampled 17 May 2013, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen below Jack Keys Reservoir | River Darwen | 0.2 km | 11 May 2026 · 5 months ago | Oxygen 98.9%Temp 9.5 °CpH 8.15Ammonia 0.062 mg/l |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knuzden Brook above the confluence with River Blakewater | Knuzden Brook | 0.5 km | 10 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 100.8%Temp 6.5 °CpH 7.92Ammonia 0.095 mg/l |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Blakewater at Gorse St Bridge | River Blakewater | 3.4 km | Last sampled 6 Dec 2017, before the imported period | |
| River Blakewater at Whalley New Road Bridge | River Blakewater | 2.3 km | Last sampled 6 Dec 2017, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterside Brook downstream of Reservoir confluence | Waterside Brook | 6.4 km | Last sampled 12 Mar 2015, before the imported period | |
| Sunnyhurst Brook downstream of Earnsdale Reservoir | Sunnyhurst Brook | 5.0 km | Last sampled 12 Mar 2015, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen below Hollins Paper Mill | River Darwen | 3.2 km | Last sampled 24 Apr 2018, before the imported period | |
| Waterside Brook above the confluence with River Darwen | Davy Field Brook | 2.6 km | 10 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 103%Temp 6.6 °CpH 8.18Ammonia 0.055 mg/l |
| River Darwen above the confluence with Waterside Brook | River Darwen | 2.5 km | Last sampled 31 Mar 2005, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen downstream of Waterside Brook | River Darwen | 1.8 km | Last sampled 5 Mar 2015, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Blakewater at Lancaster Street Road Bridge | River Blakewater | 19 km | Last sampled 6 Dec 2017, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen at Feniscliffe Bridge | River Darwen | 18 km | 24 Jun 2026 · 3 months ago | Oxygen 113.8%Temp 18.2 °CpH 8.52Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| River Blakewater above the confluence with River Darwen | River Blakewater | 18 km | 24 Jun 2026 · 3 months ago | Oxygen 91.5%Temp 18.8 °CpH 8.05Ammonia 0.11 mg/l |
| River Roddlesworth at SD 646 227 | River Roddlesworth | 18 km | Last sampled 10 Mar 2020, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen at Plessington Fields | River Darwen | 17 km | Last sampled 14 Jan 2020, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen upstream of Butler's Bridge | River Darwen | 16 km | 10 Dec 2024 · 22 months ago | Oxygen 98.9%Temp 6.4 °CpH 8.14Ammonia 0.041 mg/l Nov 2024 |
| Finnington Brook above the confluence with River Roddlesworth | Finnington Brook | 14 km | Last sampled 7 Jun 2007, before the imported period | |
| River Roddlesworth above the confluence with River Darwen | River Roddlesworth | 14 km | 12 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 103.3%Temp 5.8 °CpH 8.3Ammonia 0.037 mg/l |
| River Darwen at Hoghton Bottoms | River Darwen | 11 km | Last sampled 3 Mar 2020, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen at Samlesbury Mill Bridge | River Darwen | 8.2 km | Last sampled 9 Mar 2005, before the imported period | |
| Hole Brook above the confluence with River Darwen | Hole Brook | 6.1 km | Last sampled 23 May 2018, before the imported period | |
| River Darwen at Roach Bridge | River Darwen | 4.8 km | 7 Sep 2026 · 31 days ago | Oxygen 101% Mar 2025Temp 8 °C Mar 2025pH 8.35Ammonia 0.035 mg/l Mar 2025 |
| Fowler Brook above the confluence with River Darwen | Fowler Brook | 2.8 km | Last sampled 3 Mar 2020, before the imported period | |
| Many Brooks above the confluence with River Darwen | Many Brooks | 1.5 km | 10 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 110.8%Temp 7.4 °CpH 8.41Ammonia 0.077 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.
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