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0.17

Bourne End

Wye
Cherwell Thame and Wye catchment • Bourne End • Buckinghamshire • ID: 2590TH • Level
(31m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 168 views

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Current Level
0.168 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.170 mASD
24h Min
0.142 mASD
Typical Range
0.11 - 0.38
mASD
Highest Recorded
0.60 mASD
13 Jan 2013
Since May 1985
Current level is 28% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.170 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.169 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.169 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.169 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.167 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.168 mASD
23 Aug 17:15 0.168 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2014 for the 3 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 2.5 km away).

1flood warning 13flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 4 Oct 2020River Wye from West Wycombe down to Bourne End

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2025 0 3
2024 0 5
2020 1 0
2018 0 1
2016 0 1
2014 0 3

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 Bourne End flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Bourne End
  • Watercourse: River Wye
  • Nearest Town: Bourne End
  • County: Buckinghamshire
  • Coordinates: 51°34'16"N 0°42'31"W (51.571155, -0.708557)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1984
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 2590TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 2590TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Cherwell Thame and Wye
  • Typical Range: 0.114 – 0.380 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 137 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.17 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 22:45)
  • 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

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.80
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
805 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
11%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
2.74 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
3.35 m³/s
12 Feb 2001
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.9951.690.9380.4895% (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 20%Grassland 39%Arable 19%Urban 22%

Flow affected by: 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

The lowest site on the Wye, located downstream of Wycombe.

More detail

The catchment

Dip-slope valley in the Chiltern. A mainly pervious (Chalk) catchment with an overburden of Clay-with-Flints (glacial deposits) on the higher ground. Rural headwaters but contains several growing urban/suburban centres in the lower valley (including Wycombe).

The station

British Standard Crump weir, 6.1m broad installed on a slight bend.

How it measures flow

Bend in channel causes a build-up of very mobile silt on the upstream right hand apron, which changes the channel cross-sectional area. Site not originally located on bend; fisheries enhancements have changed the channel. Modular throughout the flow range. All but extreme floods contained. Protected flows derived from standard Crump weir equation.

Flow regime

The flow regime (especially during low flows) is significantly influenced by artificial influences especially abstractions (particularly gw). The recent closure of the u/s High Wycombe STW has meant that sewage effluent has been redirected to Marlow STW. A groundwater compensation flow has been put in place for the river. However there is no daily variation damping at low flows. Flashy response from growing urban fraction but regime remains baseflow dominated.

The flow record

Mill operation evident in early record. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2024 (WINFAP Files v13).

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
Crump weir
Operating since
1964
Station datum
26.8 mAOD
Flow record
1964–2024 · 60 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1964
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Wye at Bourne End flooding today?

The current level is 0.17m, which is within the typical range of 0.11 to 0.38m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Bourne End?

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 Wye at Bourne End?

The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 0.38m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.38m 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 →