Get notified about Farnworth — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.
Alert me when (tick one or more)
⤴Unusual rise — FloodRadar+Top 1% rise rate for this gauge.
Height for "Above a height"
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value:m
Quick pick:
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.
Get notified when recent rainfall near this gauge crosses its learnt rise trigger — an early "watch"
signal, typically hours before a rise. Experimental; not an official flood warning.
Notify by (tick one or more)
Your browser will ask permission, then you'll get a notification even when FloodRadar isn't open.
On iPhone: tap Share → Add to Home Screen first, then open it from there and set the alert. Show me how
Each one is saved as its own alert — pause or remove them individually any time.
Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on
EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.076 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.084 m
24h Min
0.076 m
Typical Range
0.07 - 1.00
m
Highest Recorded
1.83 m
EA official record
A 2.09 reading (11 Jan 2016) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 4% 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.
58 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 220 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 57 report not discharging, and for 1 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
United Utilities · into Jenny Beck, A Trib Of Rv Croal · 2.7 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
41 spills · 74 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
28 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
31 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 →
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 Farnworth flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 10 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).
Baseflow Index
0.33
flashy — rain runs off fast
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,368 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
17%
heavily urbanised
Median Annual Flood
60.48 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
67.90 m³/s
27 Oct 1980 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
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.
Non-standard broad-crested weir gauging a highly urbanised and industrial catchment.
More detail
The catchment
Geology of Millstone Grit overlain with peat moorland in headwaters, with Boulder Clay and coal measures in the urban lower parts. A highly urbanised and industrialised catchment which includes Bolton.
The station
Station opened December 1948 on a non-standard broad-crested mill weir 45m wide and 2.9 m long, with long downstream slope. Bend and island immediately upstream of weir. Island is maintained to prevent encroachment onto weir.
How it measures flow
The weir is in good condition but is insensitive especially at low flows. Very high flows may bypass station on the inside of the loop, but no bypassing observed in 15/16 floods. Cableway was installed in June 2000. Backwater unlikely - confluence with River Irwell is approx 1.5km downstream, and weir is approx 2.6m above downstream bed. One peak flow rating applied across period of record. Scatter at low flows is thought to be at least partly due to differences in the location and method of spot gauging at different periods. Pressure sensor installed in river following 15/16 floods.
Flow regime
Several reservoirs in headwaters, particularly on the Bradshaw Brook tributary, controlling 27% of the catchment. Many effluent discharges lower down.
The flow record
Peak flow record begins in 1948, but no digitised daily mean flows before 1976. Wrack mark after winter 15/16 floods at 1.8m. No high flow gaugings historically, some around QMED now taken by ADCP.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Croal at Farnworth flooding today?
The current level is 0.08m, which is within the typical range of 0.07 to 1.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Farnworth?
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 Croal at Farnworth?
The typical range at this station is 0.07m to 1.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.00m 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.
Embed this gauge on your website
Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.
Preview
📮 Flood risk by postcode near this gauge
Postcodes within 5 km with properties in the Environment Agency’s rivers-and-sea flood-risk bands:
FloodRadar
Log inCreate free account
18 Oct 2017 Downstream view towards weir
18 Oct 2017 Upstream view
18 Oct 2017 Upstream view (taken from right bank)
Looking u/s over weir from R bank
Looking d/s from weir R bank
Across weir from R bank
