Northern Manchester catchment
• Broughton • Greater Manchester • ID: 690510 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 178 views
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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
0.849 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.893 m
24h Min
0.847 m
Typical Range
0.73 - 3.00
m
Highest Recorded
5.67 m
EA official record
5.67 in our data (since Aug 1976)
Current level is 15% 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 6 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.
197 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.6 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 186 report not discharging, and for 11 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
United Utilities · into River Irwell · 1.7 km away in a straight line · its water cannot be followed on the map
2 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
137 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
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 →
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 Broughton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 25 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Urban & flashyHeavily 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).
Velocity-area station located in Salford, used in conjunction with Adelphi Weir downstream.
More detail
The catchment
The catchment has steep valleys cut into the moors in the upper reaches. The high ground is made up of peat and the valleys consist of sands and gravels. Permo-Triassic sandstones in the south-west with coal measures, grits and sandstones of the Carboniferous series to the north and west overlain by postglacial drift deposits. Considerable urban and industrial land use in the lower sections, including the towns of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale and parts of Manchester. No catchment changes known.
The station
An open channel section in urban Salford, primarily for flood forecasting. Used in conjunction with Adelphi Weir (69002) approx 2km downstream which has a very similar catchment area. Opened 1941.
How it measures flow
All records in stage. Suffers severe weed growth in the summer months - poor at low flows - mean daily flows are not presented - see 69002. Subsequent flood alleviation works included (in order of construction) wall-raising, increase in channel conveyance between Manchester Racecourse and Adelphi Weir, and increasing channel conveyance downstream of Adelphi Weir (channel widening and cutting a new channel, water first flowed in September 1970). Scheme works thus changed the stage / discharge relationship at Manchester Racecourse. A second flood alleviation scheme was constructed in 2000, consisting of a flood storage basin in Salford upstream from Manchester Racecourse, and minor improvements to the defence heights. In the January 2008 event water just began to spill into the basin, but did not significantly reduce flows at Manchester Racecourse. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Ratings at both Manchester Racecourse and Adelphi Weir were developed from flow gaugings taken in the 1970's (ie post flood alleviation scheme). Rating fits well to available gaugings up to ~3.5m. Further modelling and high-flow gauging required to confirm the rating. Gaugings considered to be more reliable after the Manchester Racecourse cableway was renovated in June 1978. Later gaugings taken from footbridge between the two stations. Although there were no high flow gaugings to derive the rating, a check gauging on the rising limb of the October 1980 event at 265 m3/s and approx 2.05m at Adelphi Weir supports the ratings. The January 2008 event (416 m3/s at Manchester Racecourse from the rating) was recorded at approx 375m3/s at the new ultrasonic station at Kearsley upstream (difference in catchment area approx 8%).
Flow regime
Many abstractions and storage reservoirs. Flood basins upstream of Manchester Racecourse attenuate peak flows - Littleton Road (completed prior to Jan 2008 flood) and Castle Irwell (completed 2017).
The flow record
Station opened in 1941, some gaps and poor records until 1990 when POT record starts. The Environment Agency hold data from 1976. A single combined AMAX series for 69025 and 69002 is held under 69025 (derived by detailed comparison and analysis of the records from both stations, using the more reliable station for each AMAX event, but checked against the other station). Both stations have had problems at various times, but at least one station appears reasonably reliable for each AMAX for the period presented. AMAX from 1935 to 1940 are not presented as the Adelphi Weir record had some anomalies and Manchester Racecourse was not yet open. AMAX from 1950 to 1963 are entirely from Adelphi Weir - the annual maxima appear reliable, though the record from Manchester Racecourse is missing. Major flooding in Salford in September 1946, with some limited spill around the station. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2020 (WINFAP Files v9).
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Irwell at Manchester Racecourse flooding today?
The current level is 0.85m, which is within the typical range of 0.73 to 3.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Manchester Racecourse?
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 Irwell at Manchester Racecourse?
The typical range at this station is 0.73m to 3.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.00m 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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