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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.
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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.242 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.250 m
24h Min
0.240 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 3.00
m
Highest Recorded
5.35 m
EA official record
5.29 in our data (since Dec 1987)
Current level is 5% 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.
17 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 220 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 16 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
South West Water · into Tributary Of The River Otter · 5.9 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
21 spills · 19 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
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 →
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 Liftondown flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 7 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
0.43
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,258 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.5%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
161 m³/s
18 Dec 1999 · 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 10%Grassland 79%Arable 8%Urban 3%
Grassland 82% → 79% since 1990
Photos
Gauging-station photographs from the National River Flow Archive (UKCEH).
An informal Flat V control on the River Tamar upstream of the confluence with the River Lyd.
More detail
The catchment
Moderate relief catchment with Carboniferous sandstones in headwaters and remainder Culm Measures (shales, limestones, grits). Essentially rural, low grade agriculture, some forestry.
How it measures flow
Informal Flat V control 18m wide between high angle trapezoidal gabion wing walls with a reasonably straight approach. Cableway just d/s of Kensey trib. Comes out of lb when Kensey in flood. Rating reasonable to bankfull, but requires low flow gaugings to confirm lower end (below 0.18m).
Flow regime
Significant modification of flow due to Tamar Lake operations.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Velocity–area
Operating since
1987
Station datum
48.0 mAOD
Flow record
1987–2024 · 37 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Possible storm-overflow correlation
Rain upstream
This gauge has no rain model of its own, but it usually follows Bealsmill: when about 10mm of rain falls near Bealsmill in 6h, this gauge usually starts rising about 68 minutes later.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Tamar at Polson Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.24m, which is within the typical range of 0.23 to 3.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Polson Bridge?
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 Tamar at Polson Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 3.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.00m 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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6 Jun 2025 Looking over weir to left bank. Stage: +0.33m.
6 Jun 2025 Looking downstream from gauging station to left bank. Staff gauge visible. Stage: +0.33m.
6 Jun 2025 Looking upstream from gauging station to left bank. Stage: +0.33m.