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0.10

Springfield

Chelmer
Essex catchment • Chelmsford • Essex • ID: E22869 • Level
(32m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 168 views

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Current Level
0.103 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.104 m
24h Min
0.101 m
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.75
m
Highest Recorded
1.43 m
22 Oct 2001
Since Oct 1979
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.103 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.103 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.102 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.103 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.104 m
23 Aug 18:15 0.103 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.9 km away).

61flood warnings 167flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 17 Nov 2022The River Wid from Ingatestone, to and including, Writtle

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 8
2025 0 4
2024 0 22
2023 0 14
2022 1 6
2021 4 15
2020 0 16
2019 3 4
2018 2 5
2017 0 5
2016 3 6
2015 1 4
2014 13 12
2013 3 6
2012 20 12
2011 1 3
2010 2 11
2009 6 6
2008 2 7
2007 0 1

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 Chelmsford flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Springfield
  • Watercourse: River Chelmer
  • Nearest Town: Chelmsford
  • County: Essex
  • Nearest reservoir: Hanningfield (9.0 km) · 54.9% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 51°44'12"N 0°28'46"E (51.736622, 0.479442)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: E22869
  • EA Gauge ID: E22869-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Essex
  • Typical Range: 0.061 – 0.750 m
  • Drainage Area: 190 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.10 m (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds 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
616 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.2%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
14.41 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
29.30 m³/s
30 Oct 2000
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 1.083.480.6030.2855% (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 4%Grassland 21%Arable 67%Urban 9%
Arable 80% → 67% since 1990

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

'Essex' profile located in Chelmsford gauging a predominantly rural catchment with mixed geology and some artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Mainly Upper Chalk and London Clay largely covered with Boulder Clay. Predominantly rural (mainly arable farming) but with urban development (N Chelmsford) just u/s of station.

The station

'Essex' profile (modified Flat V Crump) weir.

How it measures flow

Full range station, no drowning. Gaugings from float-runs are thought to have overestimated flows. One rating applied across period of record.

Flow regime

Surface water abstraction, mainly for spray irrigation, some industrial purposes. Gw abstractions from confined Chalk aquifer for PWS and industrial activities.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2019 (WINFAP Files v8).

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
1965
Station datum
23.1 mAOD
Flow record
1965–2024 · 59 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1965
Hydrometric area
37
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Chelmer at Springfield flooding today?

The current level is 0.10m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 0.75m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Springfield?

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.

What is a normal level for the River Chelmer at Springfield?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.75m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.75m 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 →