FloodRadar
Log inCreate free account
FloodRadar
Log inCreate free account
Live levels from 7 monitoring stations across County Durham, updated every 15 minutes.
| Station | Level now | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copley | 0.07 m 7h ago | Normal | ||
| 6.6 km by river | ||||
| Lowlands | 0.07 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 3.0 km by river | ||||
| Ramshaw Mill | 0.06 m 1h ago | Low | ||
| 1.7 km by river | ||||
| Spring Gardens Damstructure | 0.50 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 1.8 km by river | ||||
| West Auckland | 0.14 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 7.0 km by river | ||||
| Dovecote Hill | 0.48 m 1h ago | Normal | ||
| 1.2 km by river | ||||
| South Church | 0.06 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 Gaunless 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 Gaunless above South Church on the river map. Streams without a gauge are not counted here.
Below South Church, its water next reaches Sunderland Bridge, a gauge on River Wear, 18.3 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.
20 storm overflows are traced upstream of South Church, the Gaunless’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Gaunless itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.
Official figures for 2025, for the overflows traced upstream of South Church: 387 spills over 2,321 hours in total, across all 20.
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 Gaunless includes the smaller streams that join it there.
Within 3 km of one of the Gaunless’s gauges in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water reaches it.
4 more near these gauges whose connection is not known.
13 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Gaunless’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: © Northumbrian 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.
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.
17 sampling points on the River Gaunless and the streams that join it above South Church, and below it. 3 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hindon Beck upstream of Wooley Hill minewater | Hindon Beck | 5.3 km | Last sampled 19 Mar 2013, before the imported period | |
| Hindon Beck at B6282 Woodland Fell | Hindon Beck | 4.4 km | 5 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 100.3%Temp 6.7 °CpH 7.78Ammonia 0.039 mg/l |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunless at the Slack | River Gaunless | 2.5 km | 5 Aug 2026 · 2 months ago | Oxygen 96.6%Temp 15.8 °CpH 8.62Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| Gaunless upstream of Butterknowle sewage treatment works | River Gaunless | 2.4 km | Last sampled 5 Mar 2002, before the imported period | |
| Gaunless upstream of Lowlands minewater | River Gaunless | 0.2 km | Last sampled 9 Aug 2021, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunless 80 m downstream of Lowlands minewater discharge | River Gaunless | 3.0 km | Last sampled 21 Mar 2007, before the imported period | |
| Gaunless upstream of Ramshaw sewage treatment works (Evenwood Bridge) | River Gaunless | 1.1 km | Last sampled 13 Dec 2021, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| River Gaunless at Ramshaw Mill | River Gaunless | 1.6 km | 5 Jan 2026 · 9 months ago | Oxygen 101.7%Temp 1.4 °CpH 8.17Conductivity 540 µS/cm |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunless at Path 100 m upstream of Holme Mill | River Gaunless | 1.8 km | 20 Aug 2026 · 49 days ago | Oxygen 83.3%Temp 13.9 °CpH 8.43Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| Gaunless at Spring Gardens | River Gaunless | 1.1 km | Last sampled 12 Jun 2000, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Above the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunless at West Auckland | River Gaunless | 6.8 km | 3 Mar 2025 · 19 months ago | Oxygen 103.4%Temp 7.4 °CpH 7.99Ammonia 0.033 mg/l |
| Hummer Beck at Hummerbeck Bridge | Hummer Beck | 6.1 km | 4 Apr 2025 · 18 months ago | Oxygen 106.2%Temp 9.7 °CpH 8.11Ammonia below 0.03 mg/l |
| Gaunless at Fieldon Bridge | River Gaunless | 2.6 km | Last sampled 31 May 2005, before the imported period | |
| Gaunless downstream of Dere Street | River Gaunless | 2.5 km | Last sampled 22 Nov 2000, before the imported period |
| Sampling point | Watercourse (map) | Below the gauge | Last sample | Latest results (river water) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gaunless at A688 Bridge | River Gaunless | 0.7 km | Last sampled 22 Nov 2000, before the imported period | |
| Gaunless at Cemetery | River Gaunless | 1.3 km | Last sampled 31 May 2005, before the imported period | |
| Gaunless upstream of River Wear | River Gaunless | 3.9 km | 2 Apr 2025 · 18 months ago | Oxygen 102.6%Temp 9.4 °CpH 8.45Ammonia 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.
FloodRadar helper · beta