Northern Manchester catchment
• Manchester • Greater Manchester • ID: 690611 • Level
(33m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 138 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
0.243 m
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.527 m
24h Min
0.243 m
Typical Range
0.12 - 0.80
m
Highest Recorded
1.95 m
EA official record
1.94 in our data (since Apr 1995)
Current level is 12% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Flood predictions aren't generated for
lock / structure gauges —
their levels are driven by gate operation,
not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.
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 8 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.
46 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 720 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 44 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.
United Utilities · into River Irk · 950 m away in a straight line · its water cannot be followed on the map
14 spills · 5 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
103 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.
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 Manchester flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 13 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
0.51
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,094 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
39%
heavily urbanised
Median Annual Flood
28.11 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
23.43 m³/s
16 Mar 2019 · 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.
Curved non-standard round nosed broad-crested weir to replace Scotland Weir (69003). Gauges a catchment with moorland headwaters but urbanised lower catchment.
More detail
The catchment
Solid geology; Coal Measures in the headwaters with Sherwood Sandstone and Permian marls in the lower catchment. Catchment entirely overlain by Boulder Clay and sands and gravels. The river rises in open moorland before entering the densely populated and urbanised Lower Irk catchment, which includes Oldham and Manchester. No catchment changes known.
The station
Curved non-standard round-nosed broad-crested weir, 2m high, at the end of a formalised brick-walled reach. Opened April 1995 to replace Scotland Weir (69003).
How it measures flow
Stilling well with shaft encoders. External pressure sensor in river. Weir is insensitive but better than Scotland Weir. Gaugings carried out using a hand-line since 1985 (before station opened); no room for a cableway for high flow gaugings. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record developed from current meter gaugings since 04/10/1995, with modelled top-end. Algal growth up to 5cm deep can occur on weir crest.
Flow regime
Many industrial abstractions and discharges and one small reservoir upstream.
The flow record
Water year 1994/1995 rejected as the AMAX is from the partial water year at the start of the record. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10). Outstation failure 14-15 January 2023, no backup available.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1995
Station datum
33.0 mAOD
Flow record
1995–2024 · 29 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1995
Hydrometric area
69
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Irk at Collyhurst Weir flooding today?
The current level is 0.24m, which is within the typical range of 0.12 to 0.80m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Collyhurst Weir?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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 Irk at Collyhurst Weir?
The typical range at this station is 0.12m to 0.80m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.80m 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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16 Mar 2019 Looking upstream and across channel when weir completely drowned
16 Mar 2019 Immediately D/s of weir. Taken from left bank showing river topping the bank and flowing down the road
18 Oct 2017 Downstream view towards weir
18 Oct 2017 Upstream view towards weir
18 Oct 2017 Downstream view (debris from high flows in mid-October 2017)
16 Nov 2006
