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0.09

Claypole

Witham
Witham catchment • Claypole • Lincolnshire • ID: E2901 • Level
(47m ago) • 3 readings/hr • 157 views

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Current Level
0.086 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.102 mASD
24h Min
0.086 mASD
Typical Range
0.11 - 0.69
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.34 mASD
10 Mar 2014
Since Nov 2012
Current level is 6% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Falling · -1 cm over 6h
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.086 mASD
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.086 mASD
23 Aug 22:35 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.086 mASD
23 Aug 21:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.088 mASD
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.089 mASD
23 Aug 20:35 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.089 mASD
23 Aug 20:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.090 mASD
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 19:45 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.091 mASD
23 Aug 19:35 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.092 mASD
23 Aug 19:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.093 mASD
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.094 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▬ steady 0.094 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.094 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▬ steady 0.095 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.095 mASD
23 Aug 17:50 ▬ steady 0.096 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 ▬ steady 0.096 mASD
23 Aug 17:15 ▬ steady 0.096 mASD
23 Aug 17:00 0.096 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 15 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.2 km away).

69flood warnings 174flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 8 Feb 2026River Trent at Newark for riverside properties

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 4 15
2025 10 8
2024 11 17
2023 10 13
2022 1 8
2021 8 13
2020 8 10
2019 6 23
2018 0 6
2017 0 4
2016 0 7
2015 0 1
2014 0 9
2013 0 6
2012 7 12
2010 0 2
2009 0 3
2008 0 7
2007 4 10

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 Claypole flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Claypole
  • Watercourse: River Witham
  • Nearest Town: Claypole
  • County: Lincolnshire
  • Coordinates: 53°1'22"N 0°44'46"W (53.022669, -0.746145)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: E2901
  • EA Gauge ID: E2901-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 1 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~17 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Witham
  • Datum: 0.070m AOD
  • Typical Range: 0.110 – 0.690 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 298 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.09 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 23:00)
  • 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

🌊 Mixed response A balance of quick runoff and slower groundwater baseflow.

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
0.59
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
654 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +3% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
3.5%
partly urbanised
Median Annual Flood
16.47 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
31.60 m³/s
11 Feb 1977
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 1.935.781.230.3875% (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 5%Grassland 24%Arable 63%Urban 7%

Flow affected by: reservoir influence, public water supply, 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

Gauging a predominantly rural catchment with mixed geology and substantial artificial influences.

More detail

The catchment

The catchment is about half clay and half limestone, mainly clay d/s of Grantham. Some superficial deposits of Boulder Clay in headwaters and gravel terrace deposits in valleys. Some drainage from the Lincolnshire Limestone in the form of springs. Other springs have been found to emanate from gravel beds perched on the Lias Clays. Largely rural, although Grantham is within the catchment.

The station

An old three level weir, total width of 24.99m converted to a standard broad-crested Lea design.

How it measures flow

No bypassing or drowning. Fairly insensitive but range and gauge quality good. Rated by current meter. Scatter in gaugings evident. One rating applied across period of record.

Flow regime

Substantial modification of low flows by transfer to Rutland Water and PWS at Saltersford; >50% of low flows may be abstracted representing between 10 and 30% of average flow. Some effluent returns.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).

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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1959
Station datum
16.9 mAOD
Flow record
1959–2024 · 65 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1959
Hydrometric area
30
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Witham at Claypole flooding today?

The current level is 0.09m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Claypole?

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.

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 Witham at Claypole?

The typical range at this station is 0.11m to 0.69m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.69m 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 →