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0.12

Rowlands Gill

Derwent
Derwent catchment • Rowlands Gill • County Durham • ID: 023007 • Level
(21m ago) • 1 reading/hr • 139 views

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Current Level
0.124 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.132 m
24h Min
0.119 m
Typical Range
0.12 - 0.32
m
Highest Recorded
2.37 m
EA official record
0.90 in our data (since Aug 1971)
Current level is 5% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -0.3 cm over 6h
23 Aug 22:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.124 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.125 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.125 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.125 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 18:00 ▬ steady 0.126 m
23 Aug 17:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.126 m
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.127 m
23 Aug 17:15 ▬ steady 0.127 m
23 Aug 17:00 0.127 m

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 10 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 5.0 km away).

11flood warnings 29flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Apr 2024Tyne estuary at Derwenthaugh

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 1
2024 1 3
2023 0 6
2022 0 1
2021 0 1
2020 2 1
2019 0 3
2018 0 1
2016 0 2
2015 5 3
2013 0 2
2012 3 4
2011 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 Rowlands Gill flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rowlands Gill
  • Watercourse: River Derwent
  • Nearest Town: Rowlands Gill
  • County: County Durham
  • Nearest reservoir: Whittle Dene (14.2 km) · 71.0% full (as of 28 Dec 2025)
  • Coordinates: 54°55'2"N 1°44'21"W (54.917259, -1.739220)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 13 Aug 1971
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 023007
  • EA Gauge ID: 023007-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: Derwent
  • Typical Range: 0.119 – 0.316 m
  • Drainage Area: 242 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.12 m (EA at 23 Aug 22:15)
  • 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

🌊 Flashy Rain runs off fast — levels rise and fall sharply, often within hours of 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
0.34
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
913 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.2%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
44.11 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
122 m³/s
6 Sep 2008
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 2.627.671.560.8425% (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 15%Grassland 38%Arable 9%Heath/scrub 34%Urban 4%

Flow affected by: public water supply.

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

Two Crump weirs beneath a bridge. Regime heavily influenced by Derwent reservoir which impounds 110km2 of the upper catchment.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly upland catchment on moderately permeable carboniferous formations (Carboniferous Limestone in the upper catchment and Millstone Grit and Coal Measures elsewhere), with around half of the catchment overlain by superficial deposits of peat and Boulder Clay. Derwent Reservoir began impounding in 1965, two years into record. Mixed land use - under a half is grassland, with heath uplands; arable and urban development in lower reaches.

The station

Two Crump profile weirs with slightly different crest levels beneath the two arches of a bridge and separated by the central pier of the bridge. Bypassing is prevented by the bridge and its embankments. Bridge inverts repaired in summer 2003. Persistent gravel accretion problem.

How it measures flow

Persistent blockage of the long inlet pipe in the 1980s, also lag problem. One peak flow rating applied to period of record. Calibrated by physical model but lack of cableway meant rating not checked above moderate flows. Recent higher gaugings (>0.66m, 2019-2020) taken from bridge upstream suggest that current rating may be overestimating flows. Flood Studies Report grade C.

Flow regime

Flow regime is substantially influenced by Derwent Reservoir, which began impounding in 1965. Flashy response to rainfall prior to reservoir construction. Significant net export of water.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).

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
1962
Station datum
26.2 mAOD
Flow record
1962–2024 · 62 yrs · 99% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1963
Hydrometric area
23
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Derwent at Rowlands Gill flooding today?

The current level is 0.12m, which is within the typical range of 0.12 to 0.32m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rowlands Gill?

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 Derwent at Rowlands Gill?

The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 0.32m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.32m 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 →