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0.13

Great Chesterford

Cam
Cam and Ely Ouse (Including South Level) catchment • Great Chesterford • Essex • ID: E21778 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 181 views

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Current Level
0.130 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.130 mASD
24h Min
0.120 mASD
Typical Range
0.11 - 0.33
mASD
Highest Recorded
0.70 mASD
EA official record
0.66 in our data (since Jan 1988)
Current level is 19% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 01:15 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 01:00 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 00:45 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 00:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 00:15 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
08 Oct 00:00 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 23:45 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 23:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 22:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 22:15 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 22:00 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 21:45 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 21:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 21:15 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 21:00 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 20:45 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 20:30 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 20:15 ▬ steady 0.130 mASD
07 Oct 20:00 0.130 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Great Chesterford
  • Watercourse: River Cam
  • Nearest Town: Great Chesterford
  • County: Essex
  • Coordinates: 52°3'42"N 0°11'39"E (52.061730, 0.194279)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jul 1992
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E21778
  • RLOI id: 6189 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E21778-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • 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: Cam and Ely Ouse (Including South Level)
  • Typical Range: 0.109 – 0.333 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 141 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.13 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)
  • 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 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.

6 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.7 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 5 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Anglian Water · into R Cam · 1.7 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 · 6.0 km upstream along the river
2 spills · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade River · 6.0 km upstream along the river
9 spills · 4 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade · 6.9 km upstream along the river
35 spills · 18 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into The Slade Trib Of River Cam · 6.9 km upstream along the river
18 spills · 11 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
💧
Anglian Water · into Wicken Water · 13.2 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 The Slade · 6.0 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is 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 0.33 m on about 19 days. This year so far: 22 days.

2026 22 days, 2 of them high · 2 high so far
2025 9 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2024 38 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
2023 29 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2022 11 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
2021 20 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2020 21 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
2019 4 days, 1 of them high · 1 high patchy data
2018 10 days, 1 of them high · 1 high patchy data
2017 6 days, 2 of them high · 2 high

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 0.48 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 3.9 km away).

2flood warnings 74flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 4 Jan 2024 — River Cam at Henham, Newport and Littlebury

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 7
2025 0 2
2024 1 16
2023 0 9
2022 0 2
2021 0 8
2020 1 9
2019 0 2
2018 0 2
2017 0 2
2016 0 5
2014 0 8
2013 0 2

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 Chesterford 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

🌊 Mixed response A balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.

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
0.58
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
633 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.5%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
7.90 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
11.00 m³/s
10 Oct 1987 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5861.730.3740.1545% (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 7%Grassland 17%Arable 69%Urban 6%
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

Compound broad-crested weir gauging a rural predominantly Chalk catchment largely overlain with Boulder Clay, significant artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

Predominantly Chalk largely overlain by Boulder Clay. Rural, predominantly arable land use.

The station

Compound broad-crested weir, 22.3m broad (in trapezoidal section) with central notch 3m broad, 0.23m deep. Previously called Chesterford Mill, and included millstream flow through old mill on the side of existing river channel.

How it measures flow

Flow remains modular to 1.06m. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Stage record before 14 May 1969 truncated at around 0.46m; peaks are therefore unknown over this period and the peak flow record present here starts on 14 May 1969. Prior to 1964, millstream flow was added to main weir rating using a rating table.

Flow regime

Significant gw abstractions for PWS, with additional abstractions for industry/agriculture. Runoff increased by effluent returns.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7) and August 2025 (WINFAP Files v14).

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
1964
Station datum
35.2 mAOD
Flow record
1964–2024 · 60 yrs · 97% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1964
Hydrometric area
33
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Cam at Great Chesterford flooding today?

The current level is 0.13m, which is within the typical range of 0.11 to 0.33m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Great Chesterford?

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 Great Chesterford?

The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 0.33m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.33m 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 →