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.
10 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 420 m away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 10 report not discharging.
South West Water · into River Yealm Estuary (E) · 4.5 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
4 spills · 2 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
5 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 2026-10), which leaves out many small channels. Sewage & storm overflows →
🌊 Mixed responseA 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
0.55
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,537 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.7%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
40.42 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
31.00 m³/s
10 Mar 1981 · 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.
Flat V weir installed 2002, with crest tapping and downstream level measurement to calculate drowned flows.
More detail
The catchment
South Dartmoor catchment with rapid response. Headwaters drain Dartmoor Granite and metamorphosed Devonian slates. Most of catchment underlain by Devonian shales and tuffs with subordinate limestone. Land use is meadowland, arable and low grade agriculture. No major catchment changes.
The station
Flat V weir installed 2002, with crest tapping and downstream level measurement to calculate drowned flows. Modular at 0.82m. Prior to 2001 station consisted of a low flow rectangular flume, 4.7m throat width, side and bottom contractions, this, in turn, superseded a velocity-area station in 07/1967.
How it measures flow
Bankfull approx. mean annual flood level; downstream bridge truncates peaks. Prior to 2000 station was bypassed. Entrainment banks rebuilt in 2001 at higher level than previous, as have overtopped in the past. Previous banks overtopped more frequently but overtopped during 2012 flood events. POR maximum flow of 46.2 cumecs in 12/2000 is an estimate provided by the EA, which is thought to be reasonable. Good rating, well-gauged across the flow range. Lower end re-rated in 2011 and earlier flows recalculated. No liability to backwater or tidal influence. New rating prepared in 2013 for weir period using observations of overtopping of flood banks (> 2.125m) during July, Nov, Dec and 2012 floods. Peak flow ratings cover: the period pre-1967 before the flume was operational, the period when flume was operational (1967-2001) and the period since 2002 when the flat V was built. Acoustic Doppler installed in 08/2014 to improve high flows.
Flow regime
Moderate influence from public water supply and industrial/agricultural abstractions and imports.
The flow record
Closed from 09/2001 to 11/2002 for installation of new weir. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1963
Station datum
5.5 mAOD
Flow record
1963–2024 · 61 yrs · 98% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1962
Hydrometric area
47
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Frequently asked questions
Is PUSLINCH flooding today?
The latest recorded level is 1.29m3/s. Compare it with the recent history on the chart above to judge whether levels are unusually high.
Is the river level rising or falling at PUSLINCH?
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. Only about 0.2mm of rain has fallen nearby in the last 7 days, so the flow is being sustained mainly by groundwater. 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.
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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