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Water Level Easing
Easing — down from 0.28 at 06:00, now 0.13
0.13

Greenford, Costons Lane

Brent
Brent catchment • Greenford • Greater London • ID: 3870TH • Level
(21m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 163 views

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⤴ Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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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
0.127 mASD
▼ Easing (-1cm/hr)
24h Max
0.275 mASD
24h Min
0.109 mASD
Typical Range
0.13 - 1.11
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.75 mASD
EA official record
1.67 in our data (since Nov 1988)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -11 cm over 5h
10 Oct 13:15 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.127 mASD
10 Oct 13:00 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.130 mASD
10 Oct 12:45 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.132 mASD
10 Oct 12:30 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.135 mASD
10 Oct 12:15 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.138 mASD
10 Oct 12:00 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.141 mASD
10 Oct 11:45 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.145 mASD
10 Oct 11:30 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.149 mASD
10 Oct 11:15 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.153 mASD
10 Oct 11:00 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.158 mASD
10 Oct 10:45 ▼ -0.5 cm 0.163 mASD
10 Oct 10:30 ▼ -0.6 cm 0.168 mASD
10 Oct 10:15 ▼ -0.7 cm 0.174 mASD
10 Oct 10:00 ▼ -0.6 cm 0.181 mASD
10 Oct 09:45 ▼ -0.8 cm 0.187 mASD
10 Oct 09:30 ▼ -0.9 cm 0.195 mASD
10 Oct 09:15 ▼ -0.9 cm 0.204 mASD
10 Oct 09:00 ▼ -1 cm 0.213 mASD
10 Oct 08:45 ▼ -1 cm 0.223 mASD
10 Oct 08:30 0.234 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Greenford, Costons Lane
  • Watercourse: River Brent
  • Nearest Town: Greenford
  • County: Greater London
  • Coordinates: 51°31'39"N 0°20'42"W (51.527366, -0.344873)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1988
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 3870TH
  • RLOI id: 7290 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 3870TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 8 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Brent
  • Typical Range: 0.127 – 1.105 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 146 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: 0.13 mASD (EA at 10 Oct 12:45)
  • 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.

14 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 790 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 10 report not discharging, and for 4 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 790 m upstream along the river
4 spills · 6 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 6.0 km upstream along the river
1 spill · 3 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into River Brent · 7.3 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 9.9 km upstream along the river
1 spill · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 11.0 km upstream along the river
5 spills · 15 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 12.9 km upstream along the river
11 spills · 5 hours in 2025
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 13.4 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.
💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 13.4 km upstream along the river
31 spills · 140 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.

6 more further upstream, up to 24.2 km away along the river.

Nearby, connection not known

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

💧
Thames Water · into N/A · 2.8 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
💧
Thames Water · into Wembley Brook · 3.1 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Thames Water · into Wembley Brook · 3.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Thames Water · into Wembley Brook · 3.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Thames Water · into Wembley Brook · 3.3 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
No live feed for this overflow
💧
Thames Water · into Wembley Brook · 4.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
1 spill · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Thames Water · into River Brent · 4.5 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

8 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 →

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 1.11 m on about 1 day. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 1 day
2024 2 days
2023 1 day
2022 2 days
2021 1 day
2020 1 day
2019 0 days
2018 1 day
2017 0 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2009 for the 9 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.6 km away).

1flood warning 28flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 23 Sep 2024 — Yeading Brook East at South Ruislip

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2025 0 1
2024 1 3
2023 0 1
2022 0 2
2021 0 2
2020 0 3
2018 0 2
2016 0 1
2015 0 3
2013 0 2
2012 0 3
2011 0 1
2010 0 1
2009 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 Greenford flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 9 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Show 1 more

Catchment Character

🌊 Urban & flashy Heavily built-up — rain runs off hard surfaces fast, so levels can spike 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
0.21
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
688 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
53%
heavily urbanised
Highest Daily Mean Flow
25.90 m³/s
30 Oct 2000 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 1.134.210.5340.1845% (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 4%Grassland 22%Arable 2%Urban 72%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, groundwater abstraction, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

About this gauge

Flat V weir gauging station located on the River Red, a tributary of the Ver, initially constructed to measure low flows.

More detail

The catchment

A heavily urbanised (>50%) catchment in NW London, developed on London Clay.

The station

Flat V weir with vertical wing walls (bankfull: 2m).

Flow regime

Flow does not incorporate the d/s Greenford tributary. The Welsh Harp reservoir has significant impact on the flow regime.

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
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1989
Station datum
16.3 mAOD
Flow record
1989–2024 · 35 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Brent at Greenford, Costons Lane flooding today?

The current level is 0.13m, which is within the typical range of 0.13 to 1.11m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Greenford, Costons Lane?

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. Only about 6.2mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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 Brent at Greenford, Costons Lane?

The typical range at this station is 0.13m to 1.11m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.11m 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:

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 →