Home › Rivers › River Ryburn

River Ryburn water levels

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

2stations
0above typical high

Gauges

Monitoring stations, source to mouth

StationTownLevel nowStatusTrend
RippondenRipponden0.14 m 30m agoNormal—
Sowerby Bridge Scar Head RoadSowerby Bridge0.56 m 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 Ryburn 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 Ryburn above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road on the river map. Streams without a gauge are not counted here.

Where the Ryburn goes

Below Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road, its water next reaches Copley Bridge, a gauge on River Calder, 3.6 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 Ryburn 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

6 storm overflows are traced upstream of Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road, the Ryburn’s lowest gauge on the river map: on the Ryburn itself, on its gauged tributaries, and on smaller streams that join above there.

  • 0 report discharging now
  • 6 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 Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road: 75 spills over 1,361 hours in total, across all 6.

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 Ryburn includes the smaller streams that join it there.

Between Ripponden and Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road6 overflows
  • Old Bridge Inn CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into River Ryburn · 4.7 km by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Ripponden STW Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into River Ryburn · 3.7 km by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 56 spills, 1,311 h
  • Lumb Clough CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into River Ryburn · 2.9 km by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 8 spills, 30 h
  • Stansfield Mill CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into Nether Ends Beck · 2.0 km by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 4 spills, 2.5 h
  • Watson Mill Lane CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into River Ryburn · 460 m by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 7 spills, 18 h
  • Sowerby Croft Lane No 2 CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into Tributary Of The River Ryburn · 260 m by river above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h

Near these gauges, connection not known

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

  • West Street Combined Sewer Overflow Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into River Ryburn · 10 m from Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road in a straight line · too close to Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road to say which side · 2025: 103 spills, 284 h
  • Carver Clough No 2 CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into Carver Clough · 540 m from Ripponden in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure · 2025: 7 spills, 18 h
  • Hollins Lane CSO Monitor offline
    Yorkshire Water · into Rochdale Canal · 920 m from Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road in a straight line · discharges into a canal · 2025: 7 spills, 7.3 h
  • Warley Clough CSO Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into Warley Clough Dams · 1.2 km from Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road in a straight line · several watercourses close by, nothing to choose between them · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Barsey Green STW Not discharging
    Yorkshire Water · into Barsey Clough · 2.7 km from Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 44 spills, 475 h

15 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Ryburn’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: © Yorkshire 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 Ryburn and the streams that join it above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head 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 Ripponden River Ryburn 3 points, 0 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Above the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
Ryburn upstream of Baitings Reservoir Abv Sheep WashRiver Ryburn4.3 kmLast sampled 29 Sep 2023, before the imported period
Ryburn upstream of Baitings ReservoirRiver Ryburn4.0 kmLast sampled 17 Oct 2019, before the imported period
Ryburn at A672 Slitheroe BridgeRiver Ryburn0.1 kmLast sampled 6 Mar 2020, before the imported period
Above Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road River Ryburn 2 points, 1 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Above the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
Ryburn upstream of Ripponden Wood sewage treatment worksRiver Ryburn3.7 km25 Jun 2026 · 3 months ago
Ryburn downstream of Ripponden Wood sewage treatment worksRiver Ryburn3.1 kmLast sampled 15 Jan 2007, before the imported period
Below Sowerby Bridge Scar Head Road 1 point, 0 with samples
Sampling pointWatercourse (map)Below the gaugeLast sampleLatest results (river water)
Ryburn at Sowerby BridgeRiver Ryburn0.2 kmLast sampled 18 Aug 2021, 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.