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River Skerne water levels

Live levels from 3 monitoring stations across County Durham, Darlington, updated every 15 minutes.

3stations
0above typical high

Gauges

Monitoring stations, source to mouth

StationTownLevel nowStatusTrend
Preston-Le-SkerneAycliffe Village0.16 m 50d agoold reading
John St DarlingtonDarlington0.11 m 36m agoNormal△
South ParkStapleton0.20 m 36m 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 Skerne above one of its gauges, from the source down. Named streams without a gauge that have a page here are listed at the end.

1 gauged tributary, 1 gauge

Where the Skerne goes

Below South Park, its water next reaches Hurworth, a gauge on River Tees, 10.2 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 Skerne 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

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

  • 0 report discharging now
  • 34 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 South Park: 385 spills over 1,292 hours in total, across all 34.

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 Skerne 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 →

Above Preston-Le-Skerne, the Skerne’s highest gauge12 overflows
  • Rushyford Sewage Pumping Station, A Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into Rushyford Beck · 9.2 km by river above Preston-Le-Skerne · 2025: 11 spills, 113 h
  • Windlestone STW Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into Rushyford Beck, Tributary Of · 8.6 km by river above Preston-Le-Skerne · 2025: 24 spills, 153 h
  • Bradbury STW Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 7.4 km by river above Preston-Le-Skerne · 2025: 11 spills, 41 h

and 9 more: show all 12 overflows on this stretch → All above Preston-Le-Skerne, nearest first →

Between Preston-Le-Skerne and John St Darlington5 overflows
  • Well Bank CSO Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 14.7 km by river above John St Darlington · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h
  • Brafferton Combined Sewer Overflow Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into The River Skerne · 12.0 km by river above John St Darlington · 2025: 15 spills, 122 h
  • Askrigg Street Combined Sewer Overf Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 730 m by river above John St Darlington · 2025: 0 spills, 0 h

and 2 more: show all 5 overflows on this stretch → All above John St Darlington, nearest first →

Between John St Darlington and South Park17 overflows
  • Victoria Road SPS Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.5 km by river above South Park · 2025: 2 spills, 0.9 h
  • South Park East CSO Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into Skerne · 1.1 km by river above South Park · 2025: 3 spills, 1.1 h
  • Victoria Embankment - Polam Lane Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 1.1 km by river above South Park · 2025: 11 spills, 46 h

and 14 more: show all 17 overflows on this stretch → All above South Park, nearest first →

Near these gauges, connection not known

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

  • South Park CSO Dl035 Discharging now since
    Northumbrian Water · into River Skerne · 40 m from South Park in a straight line · too close to South Park to say which side · 2025: 30 spills, 150 h
  • Aycliffe Sewage Treatment Works Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into Demons Beck · 990 m from Preston-Le-Skerne in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 11 spills, 138 h
  • Aycliffe Sewage Treatment Works Not discharging
    Northumbrian Water · into Demons Beck · 1.0 km from Preston-Le-Skerne in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map · 2025: 9 spills, 87 h

8 more near these gauges whose connection is not known.

3 other overflows within 3 km of these gauges are placed below the Skerne’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.

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.

54 sampling points on the River Skerne and the streams that join it above South Park, and below it. 10 have a sample from the last 12 months; 11 have any sample banked.

Sampled most recently, anywhere on the Skerne and its streams:

Where, from the source downSampling pointsNewest sample
Above Preston-Le-Skerne33 points6 sampled16 Jul 2026
Above Darlington FaverdaleWest Beck · joins the Skerne above South Park1 point0 samplednone banked
Above John St Darlington13 points2 sampled15 Jul 2026
Above South Park4 points2 sampled28 May 2026
Below the lowest gauge3 points1 sampled12 May 2026

England's samples only. Each count opens the list of those points, nearest first, with the date of each one’s latest sample (the gauge’s “Upstream of here” list).

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.