Bristol Avon Little Avon Axe and North Somerset St catchment
• Batheaston • Bath and North East Somerset • ID: 53129 • Level
(34m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 128 views
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Current Level
0.720 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.729 m
24h Min
0.710 m
Typical Range
0.70 - 2.50
m
Highest Recorded
4.41 m
30 Oct 2000
Since Oct 1969
Current level is 16% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. Shown with its calibrated 10–90% confidence band. 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.
Long Term
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
—
Consecutive rainy days0 → 10+
Days Above Normal
This year vs 5-year monthly range
Recent Readings
Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:15▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 23:00▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 22:45▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 21:30▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 21:15▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 21:00▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 20:45▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 20:30▼ -0.1 cm0.720 m
23 Aug 20:15▲ +0.1 cm0.721 m
23 Aug 20:00▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 19:45▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 19:30▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 19:15▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 19:00▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 18:45▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 18:30▬ steady0.720 m
23 Aug 18:15▲ +0.1 cm0.720 m
23 Aug 18:00▬ steady0.719 m
23 Aug 17:45▬ steady0.719 m
23 Aug 17:300.719 m
Rainfall & Weather
Loading rainfall and weather data...
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2012 for the 6 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).
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 Batheaston flood history.
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
🌊 Mixed responseA balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.
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
0.58
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
873 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.2%
partly urbanised
Highest Recorded Flow
261 m³/s
28 Dec 1979
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.
Furthest downstream station on the River Avon (Somerset).
More detail
The catchment
Catchment of mixed geology: predominantly clays and Oolitic Limestone; eastern tributaries rise from Chalk. Land-use is predominantly rural with some urbanisation.
The station
Flow gauge ceased to work on 22/09/2024 but data are suspect from 15/08/2024 due to partial failure skewing the velocity data.
How it measures flow
Multi-path ultrasonic in sheet piled channel, replaced original Harwell single-path instrument in 1996.
Flow regime
Flows affected by abstractions for public water supply and augmentation from groundwater scheme.
The flow record
Data quality considered questionable until refurbishment in 2000, when 10-path equipment, with much better height distribution, was installed. Flows not processed between 12-1984 and 2000.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1976–2024
Station datum
20.6 mAOD
Flow record
1976–2024 · 48 yrs · 74% complete
Hydrometric area
53
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
🚽 Storm overflows on this river
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Avon at Bathford flooding today?
The current level is 0.72m, which is within the typical range of 0.70 to 2.50m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Bathford?
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 Avon at Bathford?
The typical range at this station is 0.70m to 2.50m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.50m 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:
