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0.08

Dernford

Cam
Cam and Ely Ouse (Including South Level) catchment • Great Shelford • Cambridgeshire • ID: E21737 • Level
(32m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 158 views

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Current Level
0.077 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.083 mASD
24h Min
0.077 mASD
Typical Range
0.13 - 0.40
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.04 mASD
EA official record
1.04 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 5h
10 Oct 19:45 ▬ steady 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 19:30 ▬ steady 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 19:15 ▬ steady 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 19:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 18:45 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 18:30 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 18:15 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 18:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 17:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 17:30 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 17:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 17:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.079 mASD
10 Oct 16:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 16:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.077 mASD
10 Oct 16:15 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 16:00 ▬ steady 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 15:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 15:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.079 mASD
10 Oct 15:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.078 mASD
10 Oct 15:00 0.077 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Dernford
  • Watercourse: River Cam
  • Nearest Town: Great Shelford
  • County: Cambridgeshire
  • Coordinates: 52°8'4"N 0°8'30"E (52.134462, 0.141784)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 2 Oct 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E21737
  • RLOI id: 6190 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E21737-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 0 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Cam and Ely Ouse (Including South Level)
  • Typical Range: 0.127 – 0.395 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 198 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 8 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.08 mASD (EA at 10 Oct 19:45)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Same river system, separate branch

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

7 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 10.8 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 6 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Anglian Water · into River Cam · 10.8 km upstream along the river
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into R Cam · 14.5 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade River · 18.9 km upstream along the river
2 spills · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade River · 18.9 km upstream along the river
9 spills · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade · 19.7 km upstream along the river
35 spills · 18 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade Trib Of River Cam · 19.8 km upstream along the river
18 spills · 11 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
💧
Anglian Water · into Wicken Water · 26.0 km upstream along the river
8 spills · 47 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Anglian Water · into Tributary River Cam Nt · 220 m away in a straight line · too close to the gauge to say which side
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Rhee Nt · 4.9 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
30 spills · 383 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.40 m on about 6 days. This year so far: 10 days.

2026 10 days, 1 of them high · 1 high so far
2025 5 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2024 28 days, 7 of them high · 7 high patchy data
2023 11 days, 2 of them high · 2 high patchy data
2022 2 days
2021 13 days, 3 of them high · 3 high patchy data
2020 13 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2019 1 day patchy data
2018 5 days patchy data
2017 3 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out, so a year marked patchy may have run high more often than shown. The darker part is days above 0.59 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2013 for the 8 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.6 km away).

1flood warning 104flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 15 Jan 2021 — River Cam at Stapleford, Great Shelford and Hauxton

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 6
2025 0 5
2024 0 15
2023 0 15
2022 0 6
2021 1 10
2020 0 9
2019 0 1
2018 0 8
2017 0 2
2016 0 8
2015 0 6
2014 0 12
2013 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 Great Shelford flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 8 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

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
0.65
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
622 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.8%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
12.40 m³/s
6 May 1978 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.8972.240.6660.2525% (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 6%Grassland 18%Arable 69%Urban 7%
Arable 78% → 69% since 1990

Flow affected by: groundwater abstraction, effluent returns, 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

Rectangular thin-plate weir gauging predominantly pervious Chalk catchment with arable land use and significant artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly pervious catchment underlain by Chalk. Some Boulder Clay cover, primarily in headwater areas. Land use mainly arable.

The station

Rectangular thin-plate weir, 5.8m broad. Removed from peak flows dataset in September 2023 (WINFAP Files v12).

How it measures flow

Bridge pier may affect approach velocity at high flows. Weir subject to drowning, tailwater levels measured to assist rating. Rating does not consider out of bank flow.

Flow regime

Five groundwater abstractions for PWS. Also abstractions for industry and agriculture. Flow regime is affected by industrial effluent returns derived from groundwater pumped within the catchment.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).

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
1949
Station datum
14.7 mAOD
Flow record
1949–2024 · 75 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
33
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Cam at Dernford flooding today?

The current level is 0.08m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Dernford?

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 Cam at Dernford?

The typical range at this station is 0.13m to 0.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.40m 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.

Embed this gauge on your website

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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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →