Don and Rother catchment
• Old Whittington • Derbyshire • ID: F0203 • Level
(32m ago) • 2 readings/hr • 167 views
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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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Current Level
0.243 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.335 m
24h Min
0.243 m
Typical Range
0.23 - 2.45
m
Highest Recorded
4.12 m
EA official record
4.29 in our data (since Nov 1979)
Current level is 6% 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 8 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.
59 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 150 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 54 report not discharging, and for 5 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
Yorkshire Water · into Tributary Of The River Drone · 3.7 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
6 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
7 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 Old Whittington flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 19 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
0.49
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
832 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
15%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
37.34 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
94.02 m³/s
20 Oct 2023 · 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.
Flat-V weir in an open channel. Flow regime influenced by numerous abstractions and diversions.
More detail
The catchment
A catchment draining moors and fertile farming valleys to the southwest of Sheffield, including Dronfield and Chesterfield. Comprising mostly Pennine uplandsGeology: mainly Coal Measures with underlying Millstone Grit outcropping in the southwest of the catchment, except for a narrow alluvial strip, down the axis of a geosyncline in the valley. Mixed agriculture predominates, some moorland in headwaters (Peak District). Substantial urban development - population has grown fourfold since 1945. Industry has developed alongside residential growth. Once commonplace, now few traces of coal mining in the area remain. Chesterfield is immediately u/s of station.
The station
Flat-V weir in an open-channel, on a straight, stable reach, just downstream of Chesterfield. Cableway located 50m u/s rebuilt 2003; new cableway covers larger cross-section of river. Replaced a shallow masonry V weir located a short distance upstream in October 1979. Improvements in water quality may be responsible for heavy, summer weed-growth.
How it measures flow
Flows greater than the capacity of the weir rated using cableway 50m upstream. Railway embankment and high river wall at sewage treatment works thought to fully contain high flows, but hydraulic modelling suggests peak flows (>60 cumecs) may be underestimated. Flows bypassing station via Chesterfield Canal were measured at Wheeldon Mill Lock from October 1963 to 1989. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Rating reviewed in 2012 and modified to increase flows slightly above bankfull stage, based on gauging during 2007 flood event - applied back to November 1979 when previous masonry weir replaced with current structure. Reviewed again in 2024 with flows since 1980 slightly increased. Flood Studies Report grade A1 in 1975, now graded A1 to 2.9m and B above.
Flow regime
Flows from November 1979 reprocessed in 1996 and 2012. The pre-1979 rating is a poor fit to gaugings and flows are likely to be underestimated.
The flow record
Flows from November 1979 reprocessed in 1996 and 2012. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Rother at Whittington flooding today?
The current level is 0.24m, which is within the typical range of 0.23 to 2.45m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Whittington?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.
Why is the level slowly falling?
When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.
What is a normal level for the River Rother at Whittington?
The typical range at this station is 0.23m to 2.45m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.45m 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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7 Nov 2019 Cableway section at high flow (1.08m stage)
23 Apr 2007 Weir looking upstream
23 Apr 2007 Weir looking downstream from right bank
10 Nov 1983 Chesterfield Canal
10 Nov 1983
10 Nov 1983
1983
1983
1983
1983
U/s from weir. Cableway support shown on L bank (R of picture)
Looking d/s over weir from L bank. November 1983