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0.96

Mattersey

Idle
Idle and Torne catchment • Mattersey • Nottinghamshire • ID: 4015 • Level
(23m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 192 views

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Current Level
0.959 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
1.001 mASD
24h Min
0.954 mASD
Typical Range
0.55 - 2.70
mASD
Highest Recorded
3.01 mASD
2 Jun 2017
Since Apr 1961
Current level is 32% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -4 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.959 mASD
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.959 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.959 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.8 cm 0.959 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.967 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.967 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.970 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.971 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.975 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.975 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.979 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.979 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.979 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.983 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.982 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.987 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.986 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.991 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.991 mASD
23 Aug 17:45 0.995 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 4.5 km away).

2severe warnings 26flood warnings 109flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 7 Jan 2025River Idle at West Retford and Ordsall

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 11
2025 0 3 5
2024 0 3 12
2023 2 6 7
2022 0 1 3
2021 0 1 7
2020 0 2 8
2019 0 8 11
2018 0 1 7
2016 0 0 3
2014 0 0 4
2013 0 0 2
2012 0 0 9
2011 0 1 0
2010 0 0 3
2009 0 0 4
2008 0 0 5
2007 0 0 8

Warnings apply to a whole flood area, not necessarily this exact spot. Years before 2006 aren't covered by the EA's historic record. See also the Mattersey flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Mattersey
  • Watercourse: River Idle
  • Nearest Town: Mattersey
  • County: Nottinghamshire
  • Coordinates: 53°23'52"N 0°57'54"W (53.397737, -0.964956)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 26 Apr 1961
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 4015
  • EA Gauge ID: 4015-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Idle and Torne
  • Typical Range: 0.548 – 2.700 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 529 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.96 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:15)
  • Flow Archive: National River Flow Archive ↗

Geographic coordinates may reflect the access point for the gauge, and not the precise location in the watercourse that it is taking readings from.

Catchment Character

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

Your catchment is all the land that drains rainfall into the river above this gauge. Its character — how steep, wet, wooded, urban or chalky that land is — decides how fast rain here turns into a rising river. A steep, bare or clay catchment is “flashy” (rises and falls quickly, floods easily); a flat, chalk or well-wooded one is slow and steady. The tiles below put numbers to that; the flow-duration curve reads left-to-right from the river’s typical high flows (Q5) down to its low flows (Q95) — a steep curve means a flashy river.

The physical character of the land that drains to this gauge, and how it shapes its flood response — from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Baseflow Index
0.79
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
679 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
7.1%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
10.17 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
19.20 m³/s
26 Jun 2007
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.455.671.970.8535% (high)% of days exceeded95% (low)
Daily flow (m³/s) exceeded each % of the time — a steep curve is flashy, a flat one is steady. Q5 high · Q50 median · Q95 low.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 20%Grassland 21%Arable 43%Urban 14%Other 2%
Arable 52% → 43% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, groundwater abstraction, effluent returns.

Photos

Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).

Photos © NRFA / UKCEH & the measuring authority — shown at web resolution. Full gallery on the NRFA ↗

About this gauge

Station flow derived from ADCP to replace previous electromagnetic and earlier velocity area stations in a slow responding rural catchment.

More detail

The catchment

Low relief catchment, moderate in headwaters. Tributaries rise on Magnesian Limestone, then traverse outcrop of Sherwood Sandstone. Lower reaches underlain by alluvium and Mercia Mudstone. A portion of the catchment is urban, with Mansfield in the headwaters. Otherwise land use is predominantly rural, arable farming.

The station

Originally velocity area station; electromagnetic gauge since 1982 in reach between two bridges and trapezoidal flood banks. Primary recording switched to Side-looking ADVM 4th July 2015 then to a bed mounted ADVM from 23rd Jan 2018. Flood flows fully contained.

How it measures flow

Original velocity area station was prone to severe seasonal weed growth and unstable ratings due to variable backwater effect. Over-bank flow occurring above 1.9m inundating a wide floodplain. In Jan 1982 the channel was re-graded and rating relationship altered considerably; levels fell and velocities increased. The flow series from pre and post the electromagnetic gauge (installed 1982) are not consistent. 1982-1994 shows good agreement to spot flow gaugings. 1994-2015 shows under-recording of flows with a bias of -6.7%. ADCP installed September 2014 to run in parallel to electromagnetics during calibration. Primary flow derived from ADCP after lightning strike rendered electromagnetic gauge inoperable in November 2015.

Flow regime

Generally slow response. Reservoir(s) in the catchment together with significant abstraction and effluent returns affect runoff.

The flow record

Pre-electromagnetic data (1965-82) removed as unreliable. Gauge failed in 2000 floods but peak flow was gauged. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).

Descriptions from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH). NRFA station record ↗

Gauge Details

How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).

Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1961
Station datum
3.8 mAOD
Flow record
1982–2024 · 42 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1958
Hydrometric area
28
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Idle at Mattersey flooding today?

The current level is 0.96m, which is within the typical range of 0.55 to 2.70m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Mattersey?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

Why is the level slowly falling?

When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.

What is a normal level for the River Idle at Mattersey?

The typical range at this station is 0.55m to 2.70m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.70m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge

Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:

Check any UK postcode’s flood risk →

🏠 Buying or renting around here? Get the Property Flood-Risk Report for any English postcode — official risk band, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →