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0.09

Rickmansworth

Chess ⚙ Structure
Colne (Upper) catchment • Rickmansworth • Hertfordshire • ID: 2859TH • Level
(31m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 125 views

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Not an emergency service — if in danger call 999. Alerts rely on EA/SEPA data and are best-efforts. Terms

Current Level
0.093 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.093 mASD
24h Min
0.090 mASD
Typical Range
0.06 - 0.34
mASD
Highest Recorded
0.36 mASD
18 May 2001
Since Nov 1985
Current level is 26% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

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.

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.3 cm over 6h
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 23:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.092 mASD
23 Aug 21:30 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▬ steady 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 0.090 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2014 for the 7 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.6 km away).

1flood warning 13flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 7 Feb 2014River Gade at Kings Langley and Croxley

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2024 0 5
2021 0 5
2020 0 1
2016 0 1
2014 1 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 Rickmansworth flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Rickmansworth
  • Watercourse: River Chess
  • Nearest Town: Rickmansworth
  • County: Hertfordshire
  • Coordinates: 51°38'31"N 0°27'40"W (51.641989, -0.461250)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1985
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station (multi-sensor)
  • Station Reference: 2859TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 2859TH-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: ⚙ Yes — lock, weir, sluice or pump
  • Catchment Area: Colne (Upper)
  • Typical Range: 0.059 – 0.340 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 105 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.03 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:45)
  • 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

🌊 Groundwater-fed Slow and steady — fed largely by groundwater, so levels change gradually, not in sudden spikes.

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
0.69
groundwater-fed — slow & steady
Avg Annual Rainfall
786 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
5.6%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
1.14 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
2.81 m³/s
28 Apr 2024
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.5441.100.4890.1815% (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 15%Grassland 50%Arable 24%Urban 12%
Arable 34% → 24% since 1990

Flow affected by: public water supply, groundwater abstraction, effluent returns.

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

The station is located in the lower catchment of the River Chess.

More detail

The catchment

The Chess is a Chalk stream draining the dip-slope of the Chilterns (significant Drift cover). Headwaters are rural with significant urban growth in the lower valley. Chesham is the largest town.

The station

A crump weir (6.0m broad) with downstream recorder for non-modularity adjustment. Used for both water resource and flood warning/forecasting purposes. The Chess is a chalk stream with intemittence in the upper catchment.

How it measures flow

Full range station but non-modular at high flows (tail levels monitored). Weir equation used since construction. Gravel accumulates above the weir. Protected flows derived from standard Crump weir equation using tail levels. A very small channel that is fed from a spring approximately 150m upstream, bypasses the weir and enters the river just downstream. The modular limit of the weir is head:tail ratio of 0.75 (~0.23m), extremely non-modular limit is head:tail ratio 0.92. All flows are adjusted for non-modularity, however, extremely non-modular flows are reduced too low, with deviations from the spot flow measurement of between 12 and 35% and resulting uncertainty in AMAX and POT series that is being investigated to improve flows.

Flow regime

Baseflow-dominated flow regime but artificial influences (primarily STW effluent) evident on the hydrograph. Abstractions are of a mainly low consumptive type with some groundwater abstractions for public water supply. There is a small net export from the catchment.

The flow record

Generally a very reliable record in all but extremely non-modular flows. Periods of extremely non-modular flows in Feb 2001 and winter 2022/2023. Tail level adjustments used but surrounding data suggests the reduction factor has underestimated the true flow (see Hydrometric description). Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in August 2021 (WINFAP Files v10).

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
1974
Station datum
47.1 mAOD
Flow record
1974–2024 · 50 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1974
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Chess at Rickmansworth flooding today?

The current level is 0.09m, which is within the typical range of 0.06 to 0.34m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Rickmansworth?

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 Chess at Rickmansworth?

The typical range at this station is 0.06m to 0.34m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.34m 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 →