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0.16

Billingford

Waveney
Broadland Rivers catchment • Oakley • Norfolk • ID: E23036 • Level
(47m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 178 views

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Current Level
0.159 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.159 m
24h Min
0.119 m
Typical Range
0.15 - 0.90
m
Highest Recorded
1.83 m
EA official record
1.83 in our data (since Oct 1979)
Current level is 9% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Rising · +0.7 cm over 5h
10 Oct 05:00 ▬ steady 0.159 m
10 Oct 04:45 ▬ steady 0.159 m
10 Oct 04:30 ▬ steady 0.159 m
10 Oct 04:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.159 m
10 Oct 04:00 ▬ steady 0.158 m
10 Oct 03:45 ▬ steady 0.158 m
10 Oct 03:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.158 m
10 Oct 03:15 ▬ steady 0.157 m
10 Oct 03:00 ▬ steady 0.157 m
10 Oct 02:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.157 m
10 Oct 02:30 ▬ steady 0.156 m
10 Oct 02:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.156 m
10 Oct 02:00 ▬ steady 0.155 m
10 Oct 01:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.155 m
10 Oct 01:30 ▬ steady 0.154 m
10 Oct 01:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.154 m
10 Oct 01:00 ▬ steady 0.153 m
10 Oct 00:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.153 m
10 Oct 00:30 ▬ steady 0.152 m
10 Oct 00:15 0.152 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Billingford
  • Watercourse: River Waveney
  • Nearest Town: Oakley
  • County: Norfolk
  • Coordinates: 52°21'33"N 1°10'56"E (52.359187, 1.182279)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Oct 1979
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: E23036
  • RLOI id: 6083 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: E23036-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 0 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Broadland Rivers
  • Typical Range: 0.151 – 0.900 m
  • Drainage Area: 149 km² upstream of this gauge
  • 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
  • EA Cross-check: 0.16 m (EA at 10 Oct 05:00)
  • 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.

Nearby Stations

Gauges connected to this river, and others nearby. A distance “by river” follows the river on the map; any other is in a straight line.

Connected upstream

Connected downstream

Distances by river: OS Open Rivers. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

💧 Storm overflows upstream of this gauge

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.

6 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 5.8 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 6 report not discharging.

💧
Anglian Water · into The River Waveney Nt · 5.8 km upstream along the river
8 spills · 14 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into Tributary River Waveney · 6.0 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Waveney · 6.0 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Waveney · 6.2 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Waveney · 6.2 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Anglian Water · into River Frenze River Waveney Nt · 12.2 km upstream along the river
47 spills · 564 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
Placed on the river by its position alone.

Nearby, connection not known

Within 6 km in a straight line, but the river map cannot say whether their water passes this gauge.

💧
Anglian Water · into Unnamed Tributary River Wavene · 5.0 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
4 spills · 1 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

2 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 →

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

Rainfall & Weather

Loading rainfall and weather data...

How often this river runs high

In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 0.90 m on about 6 days. This year so far: 0 days.

2026 0 days so far
2025 0 days
2024 14 days
2023 12 days
2022 0 days
2021 8 days
2020 8 days
2019 2 days
2018 5 days
2017 1 day

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2007 for the 2 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 6.6 km away).

15flood warnings 127flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 23 Feb 2024 — The River Waveney from Diss to Bungay

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 0 2
2025 0 1
2024 5 14
2023 3 8
2022 0 3
2021 2 13
2020 2 8
2019 0 2
2018 0 5
2017 0 1
2016 1 6
2015 0 1
2014 0 5
2013 1 3
2012 0 4
2011 0 2
2010 0 10
2009 0 5
2008 1 18
2007 0 16

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 Oakley flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 2 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

Catchment Character

🌊 Fairly flashy Responds fairly quickly to rain, with moderate baseflow between events.

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
0.44
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
633 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.8%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
52.80 m³/s
16 Sep 1968 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.7412.690.3090.0765% (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 4%Grassland 23%Arable 67%Urban 6%
Arable 76% → 67% since 1990

Flow affected by: reservoir influence, effluent returns, industrial / agricultural abstraction.

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

Compound site where bypassing and drowning can affect flows, gauging a Chalk catchment with Boulder Clay overlay, effects of Waveney Groundwater Scheme significant in 1975-1979.

More detail

The catchment

Chalk catchment largely overlain with Boulder Clay, supporting mixed agriculture, predominantly arable land.

The station

Compound site of two structures located u/s of two bridge arches: a compound Crump with low flow notch and a simple Crump with lifting gate to retain higher summer levels. Removed from peak flows dataset in May 2016 (WINFAP Files v4).

How it measures flow

Flows above 1.66 cumecs are only available when the structure gate is open, otherwise they cannot be calculated. Bypassing occurs at 6.4 cumecs, drowning can result from sluice action at Hoxne Mill (manual correction applied). The compound weir is insensitive and suffers occasional drowning due to d/s weed growth. Summer flows (e.g. July 2008) on the simple crump weir can be affected by partial gate movements. Partial gate movements due to maintenance are not logged and are unrated, resulting in erroneous data in the flow record.

Flow regime

Runoff reduced by industrial/agricultural gw abstraction and by effluent returns.

The flow record

Affected by Waveney Groundwater Scheme between 1975 and 1979. Crest tapping blocked 25/11/2008-05/12/2008, estimation of hydrograph peak not possible. July 2008 flows on the simple crump weir affected by partial gate movements. Drop out in flows between 30th October 2016 and 6th November 2016 suspect, likely result of partial gate operation for maintenance.

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
1968
Station datum
20.3 mAOD
Flow record
1968–2024 · 56 yrs · 99% complete
Hydrometric area
34
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Waveney at Billingford flooding today?

The current level is 0.16m, which is within the typical range of 0.15 to 0.90m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Billingford?

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 Waveney at Billingford?

The typical range at this station is 0.15m to 0.90m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.90m 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:

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, recorded floods, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →