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0.09

Compstall

Etherow
Upper Mersey catchment • Compstall • Greater Manchester • ID: 692190 • Level
(22m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 255 views

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Current Level
0.087 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.090 m
24h Min
0.084 m
Typical Range
0.08 - 1.70
m
Highest Recorded
1.83 m
EA official record
1.81 in our data (since Mar 1971)
Current level is 5% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:30 ▬ steady 0.087 m
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.087 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.087 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.088 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.088 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.087 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.087 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.088 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.087 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.087 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.087 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.087 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.087 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.086 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.087 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.086 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.086 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.086 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.086 m
23 Aug 18:45 0.086 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 14 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.3 km away).

16flood warnings 59flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 1 Jan 2025River Tame at Dukinfield around Wainwright Street and Furnace Street

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2025 5 2
2024 4 2
2023 0 6
2022 1 2
2021 0 4
2020 0 3
2019 3 9
2017 0 2
2016 1 2
2015 0 3
2014 0 1
2013 0 2
2012 2 9
2011 0 2
2010 0 2
2009 0 1
2008 0 6
2006 0 1

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 Compstall flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Station Reference: 692190
  • EA Gauge ID: 692190-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Upper Mersey
  • Typical Range: 0.078 – 1.700 m
  • Drainage Area: 156 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.09 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • 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.

Catchment Character

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after 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
0.37
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,392 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.3%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
52.49 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
77.60 m³/s
21 Dec 1991
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 3.7011.702.070.8235% (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 6%Grassland 43%Heath/scrub 43%Urban 6%Other 2%
Grassland 39% → 43% since 1990

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply, 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

Crump weir located on the Etherow, just upstream of the confluence with the Goyt. Half of the catchment drains through Longendale reservoirs, with a significant effect on the flow regime.

More detail

The catchment

The River Etherow rises on the Pennine watershed above Longdendale. Geology comprises mostly Millstone Grit, and Boulder Clay in the lower catchment with peat covered moorland in the headwaters. Steeper slopes are drift free. A predominantly rural catchment in the headwaters with mixed urban and farmland in the lower reaches. Market towns of Glossop and Chapel-en-le-Frith provide some urban runoff. No catchment changes known.

The station

A single crest Crump weir opened March 1969; 18m wide, wing walls 2.8m high, located 0.5km upstream of Goyt confluence.

How it measures flow

Station further contained by flood banks, but there is a low point on the right bank just upstream of the structure at approx 2.2m. Crest tapping readings were used to establish a non-modular rating; tapping no longer used due to stones lodged in pressure tapping points. A downstream recorder was installed in October 2006 to investigate drowning. Event in February 2011 removed shoal downstream and appears that onset of drowning is now at a higher stage. More gaugings needed to confirm. No cableway. High flow gaugings have been taken by current meter from the road bridge upstream and from late 2004 have been taken by ADCP immediately upstream of the weir, within the retaining walls. One peak flow rating applied across period of record based on gaugings, with top-end based on modelling.

Flow regime

Half the catchment drains through Longdendale reservoirs, used for public water supply, with significant effect upon flows (e.g. drops in flow in Nov and Dec 2021).

The flow record

Daily maximum flows can sometimes be higher in the Etherow at Compstall than the Goyt at Marple Bridge. For instance, the AMAX values, which are usually on the same peak, were not in December 2024 and this could be due to more artificial water release via the Longdendale chain of Reservoirs upstream of Etherow.

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
Crump weir
Operating since
1977
Station datum
73.5 mAOD
Flow record
1971–2024 · 53 yrs · 98% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1969
Hydrometric area
69
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Etherow at Compstall flooding today?

The current level is 0.09m, which is within the typical range of 0.08 to 1.70m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Compstall?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Etherow at Compstall?

The typical range at this station is 0.08m to 1.70m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.70m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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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, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →