Northern Manchester catchment
• Bolton • Greater Manchester • ID: 690420 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 130 views
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⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
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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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Current Level
0.201 m
▲ Rising (+2cm/hr)
24h Max
0.425 m
24h Min
0.184 m
Typical Range
0.10 - 1.08
m
Highest Recorded
1.78 m
EA official record
1.78 in our data (since May 2010)
Current level is 11% 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. The nearest rain gauge has sent no readings in the last day, so Nimbus has no recent measured rain to work from here.
None of the storm overflows FloodRadar holds is traced upstream of this gauge on the mapped river network. That is not the same as none: the map leaves out many small streams and culverts, so an overflow it cannot place may still drain here, and not every company publishes every overflow. Those nearby are listed below.
Nearby, connection not known
Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.
United Utilities · into Queens Park Gilnow Park Pond · 2.8 km away in a straight line · discharges to a loch, lake or reservoir
1 spill · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
30 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
37 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.08 m
on about 2 days.
This year so far: 0 days.
20260 days so far
20251 day
20243 days
20232 days
20220 days
20212 days
20201 day
20193 days
20180 days
20172 days patchy data
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.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2019 for the 11 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.1 km away).
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 Bolton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 11 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Bessy Brook at Bessy Brook flooding today?
The current level is 0.20m, which is within the typical range of 0.10 to 1.08m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Bessy Brook?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently rising. 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 Bessy Brook at Bessy Brook?
The typical range at this station is 0.10m to 1.08m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.08m 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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