Northern Manchester catchment
• Salford • Greater Manchester • ID: 690511 • Level
(32m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 161 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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EA/SEPA/NRW data and are best-efforts. Terms
Current Level
0.746 m
▼ Falling (-4cm/hr)
24h Max
0.982 m
24h Min
0.178 m
Typical Range
0.18 - 2.00
m
Highest Recorded
3.87 m
EA official record
3.91 in our data (since Nov 2012)
Current level is 19% 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 7 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.
199 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.6 km away along the river. 8 report discharging now, 180 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 · 990 m away in a straight line · its water cannot be followed on the map
10 spills · 7 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
146 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 Salford 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).
Baseflow Index
0.43
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,334 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
16%
heavily urbanised
Highest Daily Mean Flow
476 m³/s
26 Dec 2015 · 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.
Broad-crested weir on the Irwell in Salford, used in conjunction with Manchester Racecourse upstream.
More detail
The catchment
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. The high ground is made up of peat and the valleys consist of sands and gravels. Deeply incised headwaters valleys drain the Pennine moors; lower catchment includes the urban/industrial areas of Bolton, Bury and Rochdale. No catchment changes known.
The station
Station opened in 1935 on a 40m wide broad-crested weir on a mill in urban Salford. The river Irk joins the Irwell 2km downstream. Operated in conjunction with Manchester Racecourse (69025) which is about 1.5km upstream. However, current development of peak flow rating will remove the need for Manchester Racecourse as a sister site.
How it measures flow
Weir is insensitive at low flows, and low flows may be affected by minor leakage through right bank retaining wall. Very little weed growth at station where the level is measured. All flows except extreme events (e.g. September 1946) are contained within the river channel. Weir is drowned during very high flows. After the major flooding in 1946, flood alleviation measures included channel improvements downstream of the weir, which from September 1970 increased the flow at which the weir is drowned. Rating history includes hydraulic modelling at Manchester, and later Liverpool, University. Until 1971, charts were designed to show flow clearly, with stage only secondary, though the rating and chart range changed over the period. Rating originally established by physical model tests and current meter gaugings upstream at Manchester Racecourse (69025). Flow hydrographs should be the same at Adelphi Weir and Manchester Racecourse, but since the early 1990's some events have a lesser flow recorded at Adelphi Weir, possibly due to siltation or well lag. In-channel PTX installed March 2010 as a check on peak levels - the rating curve uses the PTX when the levels are greater than 0.250m to account for the well issues. Priority site for high flow gaugings with a view to developing a peak flow rating. Flood Studies Report grade C.
Flow regime
Very responsive regime. Many abstractions and storage reservoirs - highest impact on low to mean flows. 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
Gauged daily flows: some records from 1935, routine data capture began in 1949. Major technical problems in 2000: gaps in Mar, Apr, Jun, Sep & Oct estimated by NRFA using 69023. Peak flows: a single combined AMAX series for 69002 and 69025 is held under 69025 from 1941. The winter flooding of 15/16 was just in bank.
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1949
Station datum
24.1 mAOD
Flow record
1949–2024 · 75 yrs · 98% complete
Hydrometric area
69
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Irwell at Adelphi Weir flooding today?
The current level is 0.75m, which is within the typical range of 0.18 to 2.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Adelphi Weir?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 12 hours of measurements by default (up to 7 days), updated roughly every 15 minutes.
Why is the level slowly falling?
When little or no rain has fallen for a while, a river level gradually drops as the water stored in the ground and soil drains away with nothing to replace it. This is called baseflow recession and is normal in dry spells. A gentle decline like this is expected and is not a sign of a problem — downstream gauges often recede a little faster than headwaters further upstream, and levels recover once rain returns.
What is a normal level for the River Irwell at Adelphi Weir?
The typical range at this station is 0.18m to 2.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 2.00m 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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18 Oct 2017 Downstream view towards weir
18 Oct 2017 Upstream view towards weir
U/S weir looking u/s
U/S looking across weir from L bank
Stage 1.134m