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🌊 Tide going out · low water in ~5h

Whitesands

Nith 🌊 Tidal
Nith catchment • Dumfries and Galloway • ID: SEPA_133181 • Level
This gauge is tidally influenced — levels rise and fall with each tide, so rapid changes here are normal and don't necessarily indicate flooding.
(24m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 78 views

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Get notified about Whitesands — tick as many as you like, they all share the notify settings below.

You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.

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

Current Level
1.207 m
▼ Falling (-76cm/hr)
24h Max
2.071 m
24h Min
0.314 m
Typical Range
-
Highest Recorded
5.32 m
30 Dec 2022
Since Jul 2016
Current level is 23% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Flood predictions aren't generated for tidal gauges — their levels are driven by the tide, not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.

Recent Readings

Rising · +31 cm over 5h
10 Oct 01:30 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.207 m
10 Oct 01:15 ▼▼ -20 cm 1.383 m
10 Oct 01:00 ▼▼ -20 cm 1.587 m
10 Oct 00:45 ▼▼ -18 cm 1.785 m
10 Oct 00:30 ▼▼ -11 cm 1.965 m
10 Oct 00:15 ▲▲ +32 cm 2.071 m
10 Oct 00:00 ▲▲ +16 cm 1.753 m
09 Oct 23:45 ▲▲ +10 cm 1.595 m
09 Oct 23:30 ▲▲ +28 cm 1.492 m
09 Oct 23:15 ▲▲ +25 cm 1.212 m
09 Oct 23:00 ▲▲ +6 cm 0.964 m
09 Oct 22:45 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.907 m
09 Oct 22:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.903 m
09 Oct 22:15 ▲ +0.4 cm 0.901 m
09 Oct 22:00 ▲ +0.3 cm 0.897 m
09 Oct 21:45 ▬ steady 0.894 m
09 Oct 21:30 ▼ -0.2 cm 0.894 m
09 Oct 21:15 ▬ steady 0.896 m
09 Oct 21:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.896 m
09 Oct 20:45 0.899 m

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Whitesands
  • Watercourse: Nith
  • County: Dumfries and Galloway
  • Coordinates: 55°3'55"N 3°36'39"W (55.065370, -3.610749)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: Tidal / coastal station (inferred)
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: SEPA_133181
  • SEPA time-series ID: 54172010
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 153 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~12 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: 🌊 Yes — levels follow the tide
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Nith

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

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.

17 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 460 m away along the river. 1 reports discharging now, 14 report not discharging, and for 2 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 460 m upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 940 m upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 1.5 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 2.0 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 2.0 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into Cluden Water · 4.1 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into Cluden Water · 4.1 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 28.1 km upstream along the river
Not discharging now · last

9 more further upstream, up to 71.7 km away along the river.

Also discharging now further upstream: Kirkconnel STW CSO (55.7 km).

Nearby, connection not known

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

💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 50 m away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 160 m away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into Mill Burn · 190 m away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 1.0 km away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 1.0 km away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into Mill Burn · 1.1 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
Monitor offline: it cannot say whether it is discharging
💧
Scottish Water · into River Nith · 1.3 km away in a straight line · discharges into a tidal reach, where the water moves both ways
Not discharging now · last
💧
Scottish Water · into Un-Named Tributary Of River Nith · 2.0 km away in a straight line · no mapped watercourse close enough to be sure
Not discharging now · last

6 more within 6 km whose connection is not known.

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...

Frequently asked questions

Is the Nith at Whitesands flooding today?

The latest recorded level is 1.21m. 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 Whitesands?

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 5.2mm 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 SEPA gauge. FloodRadar checks for updates roughly every 15 minutes; the timestamp above shows how recent the latest available reading is.

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Free live river-level widget — ideal for parish councils, angling clubs and local sites. Updates automatically.

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Scotland — SEPA flood warnings

SEPA has no flood warnings or alerts in force in Scotland. Last successful check: 2026-10-10 00:47:01 UTC.

No current SEPA warning or alert matched this gauge location.

Messages: SEPA Floodline RSS, used with permission. Warning-area boundaries: ©SEPA 2024; this SEPA product is licenced under the Open Government Licence 3.0.

The Environment Agency’s flood maps cover England. In Scotland the Area map’s Flood Zones layer shows SEPA’s likelihood of flooding from rivers and the sea (darker: medium or high likelihood; lighter: low), drawn by FloodRadar from its copy of SEPA’s flood maps where it holds them. These are likelihoods, not flood zones, and an empty patch is not an absence of flood risk. Check SEPA for official Scottish flood warnings and information.