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Live levels from 2 monitoring stations across Greater Manchester, updated every 15 minutes.
| Station | Level now | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolley Bridge | 0.18 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 10.6 km by river | ||||
| Compstall | 0.10 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
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 Etherow 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 Etherow between Woolley Bridge and Compstall, no more than 11.6 km by river above Compstall.
| High Street West | 0.09 m 1h ago | Normal |
Its water passes Compstall and every gauge below it on the Etherow. It does not pass Woolley Bridge or the gauges above it.
Below Compstall, its water next reaches Brinksway, a gauge on River Mersey, 14.4 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.
23 storm overflows are traced upstream of Compstall, the Etherow’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Etherow itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.
Official figures for 2025, for the overflows traced upstream of Compstall: 851 spills over 4,393 hours in total, across all 23.
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 Etherow includes the smaller streams that join it there.
Within 3 km of one of the Etherow’s gauges in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water reaches it.
4 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Etherow’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.
16 sampling points on the River Etherow and the streams that join it above Compstall, and below it. 5 have a sample from the last 12 months; 7 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelf Brook upstream of Glossop Super Alloys | Shelf Brook | 3.2 km | Last sampled 24 Apr 2014, before the imported period | |
| Hurst Brook above the confluence with Shelf Brook | Hurst Brook | 1.8 km | Last sampled 15 Mar 2023, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Etherow below Bottoms Reservoir | River Etherow | 1.7 km | 10 Jul 2026 · 3 months ago | Oxygen 104.9% Mar 2025Temp 7.1 °C Mar 2025pH 7.4Ammonia 0.032 mg/l Mar 2025 |
| River Etherow at Beesons Waste Site | River Etherow | 1.5 km | Last sampled 28 Apr 2009, before the imported period | |
| Hollingworth Brook at Millsbrook Bridge | Hollingworth Brook | 1.1 km | Last sampled 26 Nov 2014, before the imported period | |
| River Etherow above the confluence with Hollingworth Brook | River Etherow | 0.6 km | Last sampled 14 Sep 2023, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glossop Brook at Lancashire Chemicals | Glossop Brook | 12 km | 11 Sep 2026 · 27 days ago | Oxygen 102.9%Temp 14.1 °CpH 7.51Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| River Etherow at Woolley Bridge | River Etherow | 11 km | Last sampled 3 Nov 2010, before the imported period | |
| Etherow above confluence with Glossop Brook | River Etherow | 9.7 km | 8 Mar 2024 · 2.6 years ago | Oxygen 100.4%Temp 6.2 °CpH 7Ammonia 0.019 mg/l |
| Glossop Brook above confluence with Etherow | Glossop Brook | 9.7 km | 20 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 111.2%Temp 6.5 °CpH 8.22Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| Etherow below confluence with Glossop Brook | River Etherow | 8.8 km | Last sampled 23 Sep 2017, before the imported period | |
| Chisworth Brook upstream of Keiners Factory | unnamed stream | 7.3 km | Last sampled 29 Nov 2006, before the imported period | |
| Etherow at Railway Viaduct at Broadbottom | River Etherow | 7.2 km | 3 Sep 2026 · 35 days ago | Oxygen 100.4%Temp 16.5 °CpH 7.73Ammonia 0.025 mg/l |
| Hurstclough Brook | Hurstclough Brook | 6.4 km | 21 Aug 2026 · 48 days ago | Oxygen 97.3%Temp 13.8 °CpH 8.01Ammonia 0.031 mg/l |
| River Etherow at B6104 | River Etherow | 0.3 km | Last sampled 9 Mar 2020, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Below the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etherow at Compstall above confluence Goyt | River Etherow | 0.7 km | 7 Aug 2026 · 2 months ago | Oxygen 106.9%Temp 16.4 °CpH 7.91Ammonia 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.
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