Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment
• Calder Bridge • Cumberland • ID: 743509 • Level
(28m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 127 views
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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
0.273 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.302 m
24h Min
0.267 m
Typical Range
0.16 - 0.52
m
Highest Recorded
2.22 m
EA official record
1.57 in our data (since Oct 1973)
Current level is 12% 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.
1 storm overflow is traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 490 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 1 reports not discharging.
United Utilities · into River Ehen · 5.9 km away in a straight line · not connected to this gauge on the river map
8 spills · 2 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
2 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.52 m
on about 57 days.
This year so far: 29 days.
202629 days, 1 of them high · 1 highso far
202563 days, 9 of them high · 9 high
202460 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202361 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
202242 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
202154 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
202068 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
201951 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
201850 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
201763 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 1.10 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 10 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 3.0 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 Calder Bridge flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 10 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Steep & flashySteep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after heavy rain.
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
0.42
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,933 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
59.84 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
53.12 m³/s
10 Sep 1969 · 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.
Land Cover (2023)
Woodland 6%Grassland 91%Arable 2%Urban 1%
Grassland 86% → 91% since 1990
Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction.
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
Flat V weir gauging a very steep catchment with flashy regime. Some influences on flow due to abstractions and low flow augmentation.
More detail
The catchment
A very steep, flashy catchment. Upper catchment geology comprises impervious Skiddaw Slates and Borrowdale Volcanics; lower catchment Triassic Sandstone. Land use is mostly rough sheep grazing in the upper reaches, with meadow and permanent pasture lower down. Soil cover is very thin. Small percentage of the catchment is forested. No catchment changes known.
The station
Station opened December 1973. Flat V weir 12m wide, 1:20 cross-slope, measures low and medium flows. Weir repaired in 1990, 1995 and 2001. Right bank 4m high, left bank 2.56m high.
How it measures flow
Thought to drown at very high flows. All flows are contained within bank. Slight silting occurs, but flashy nature keeps structure clear although makes gauging high flows very difficult. No weed growth problem. Stilling well leaked intermittently until repaired in 1989. Permanent cableway installed in 2002. One peak flow rating applied to period of record. Rating derived from current metering at low and medium flows.
Flow regime
Flashy response. From 1/1/80 low flow augmentation by pumping from the St Bees sandstone. Industrial abstraction which ceases during times of low flow.
The flow record
Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Calder at Calder Hall flooding today?
The current level is 0.27m, which is within the typical range of 0.16 to 0.52m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Calder Hall?
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 Calder at Calder Hall?
The typical range at this station is 0.16m to 0.52m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.52m 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:
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30 Oct 2017
21 Sep 1989 Downstream looking towards weir during low flows
21 Sep 1989 Looking downstream from above weir; recorder hut just visible on left bank
1983
1983
1983
Looking across weir during low flows
