Taw and North Devon Streams catchment
• Brushford • Devon • ID: 50119 • Level
(38m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 135 views
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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
signal, typically hours before a rise. Experimental; not an official flood warning.
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Current Level
0.114 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.115 m
24h Min
0.109 m
Typical Range
0.12 - 1.90
m
Highest Recorded
2.99 m
EA official record
2.99 in our data (since Nov 1973)
Current level is 4% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it.
Under evaluation — not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 6 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
Storm overflows whose water reaches this gauge on the mapped river network, nearest first by distance along the river. The status is each water company's monitor: it says whether an overflow is discharging, not how much or what it contains.
8 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 7.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 8 report not discharging.
South West Water · into Stream (S) · 5.0 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
10 spills · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
3 other overflows within 6 km are downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so they are not listed.
These are the water companies' monitor statuses; a spill does not by itself explain a change in the gauge level. River connections and distances are traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels. Explore the sewage map →
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 Brushford flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 5 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds fairly quickly to rain, with moderate baseflow between events.
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
0.49
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,303 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.6%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
39.06 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
42.50 m³/s
29 Oct 2000 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Flat V weir built in 1998 to replace previous station built in 1973.
More detail
The catchment
Flashy regime. Catchment drains Dartmoor (Granite) in the south and is underlain mainly by Culm Shales and Carboniferous sandstones centrally. Mainly rural catchment. No major changes to catchment.
The station
Station built in 1973 with a natural, unstable, bed control. A Flat V weir was constructed to replace this in 1998 - crest length approximately 15m wide.
How it measures flow
Station is bypassed by highest flows. Multiple ratings applied across period of record, the most recent is valid from 10/1998 when weir installation necessitated a rating change. Ratings fit well to corresponding gaugings. A series of peak flow ratings represent the general conditions at high flows: - Rating 6 from the start of the stage record and the high flow event on 24/12/1989 - Rating 10 from the winter of 1989 (24/12/1989) up to the changes caused by bank modification works in 1995 - Rating 12 from the completion of bank works in 1995 (25/04/1995) up to the completion of weir construction on 23/10/1998 - Rating 14 V2 from the construction of the weir in 10/1998 to the present. Includes modelled upper segments Some disagreement between pre- and post-weir rating at high flows causes higher AMAX values in latter part of the record. Re-rated in 2009 to account for changes to the natural control in the period before the weir construction (significantly decreasing medium and low flows), and shoaling afterwards (decreasing low flows). The top segments of the pre-weir ratings have been fitted to four difficult gaugings taken during an event in 11/1986 - so comparatively low accuracy, and donot allow for subsequent channel changes.
Flow regime
Runoff natural to within 10% at Q95. Water abstractions at Taw Marsh, Dartmoor ceased around 1999. Before this date low flows would have been affected. Cheese factory at North Taw bridge abstracts from borehole but also compensates into river at low flow.
The flow record
Suspect data 01/09/1998 to 30/11/1998 during weir construction and commissioning. 10/2000 peak flow considered significantly overestimated. Water abstractions at Taw Marsh, Dartmoor, ceased around 1999. Before this, low flows would have been affected. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2023 (WINFAP Files v12).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Taw at Taw Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.11m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Taw Bridge?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.
What is a normal level for the River Taw at Taw Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 1.90m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.90m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.
How often is this river level data updated?
Readings are supplied by the Environment Agency gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.
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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:
FloodRadar
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21 Mar 2011 View to weir from downstream. Low flows.
1 Mar 2000 Shoal beginning to form downstream right bank
19 Dec 1999 Looking downstream over weir. Stage = 0.78m.
1 Mar 1999 View upstream over weir to stilling well and platform.
1 Mar 1999 View upstream over weir.
5 Jan 1999 Looking across weir. Stage = 0.507m.