Derwent West Cumbria and Duddon catchment
• Cockermouth • Cumberland • ID: 751613 • Level
(21m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 143 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
0.534 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.576 m
24h Min
0.534 m
Typical Range
0.35 - 1.25
m
Highest Recorded
3.12 m
EA official record
3.12 in our data (since Mar 1976)
Current level is 17% 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 2.9 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 1 reports not discharging.
United Utilities · into Stony Beck · 5.3 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
35 spills · 87 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
10 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 1.25 m
on about 7 days.
This year so far: 0 days.
20260 days so far
20259 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
20247 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
20233 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
20225 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
202110 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
202012 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
20196 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
20183 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
20177 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 1.34 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 9 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.2 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 Cockermouth flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 9 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
0.48
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,093 mm/yr
1991–2020 · -3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.0%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
53.33 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
166 m³/s
19 Nov 2009 · 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.
Velocity area station gauging a catchment draining the Cumbrian mountains with some reservoirs.
More detail
The catchment
Catchment drains roughly northwards from the Cumbrian mountains, with geology comprising Lower Palaeozoic rocks and granite intrusions, under moorland. Headwaters are deeply incised, while lower river flows in broad glacial trough. Land use is mainly grazing, with some arable on a broad swathe of drift in the river valley. No known catchment changes.
The station
Velocity area station, channel is approximately 17m wide. Station is often used in conjunction with Scalehill (75016).
How it measures flow
Control is a pipeline downstream, and mill weir 137m downstream at higher flows. Station has permanent cableway and flood banks containing most flows; bypassing from upstream on right bank at high flows. Suffers from silt, weed growth and minor bed movements, hence many rating changes. Low and medium flows of limited accuracy. Multiple peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rated by current meter, with model results for higher stages.
Flow regime
Catchment contains Crummock Water, Buttermere and Loweswater; catchment is sometimes responsive in spite of these. Low flow compensation pumped from Crummock Water. Occasional evidence of low flow regulation (e.g. July 1988).
The flow record
WY1966/1967 rejected due to substanital under-estimation of the true AMAX. October 2008 flood appears to have resulted in subsequent underestimation of low flows and overestimation of high flows: data subject to revision. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Cocker at Southwaite Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.53m, which is within the typical range of 0.35 to 1.25m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Southwaite Bridge?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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 Cocker at Southwaite Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.35m to 1.25m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.25m 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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