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0.44

Buildwas

Severn
Worcestershire Middle Severn catchment • Buildwas • Shropshire • ID: 2134 • Level
(1h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 350 views

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Current Level
0.438 mASD
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.440 mASD
24h Min
0.372 mASD
Typical Range
0.42 - 3.40
mASD
Highest Recorded
7.04 mASD
EA official record
A 12.28 reading (2 May 2025) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 6% of this
Current Flow
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🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
08 Oct 01:30 ▬ steady 0.438 mASD
08 Oct 01:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.438 mASD
08 Oct 01:00 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
08 Oct 00:45 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
08 Oct 00:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.439 mASD
08 Oct 00:15 ▬ steady 0.438 mASD
08 Oct 00:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.438 mASD
07 Oct 23:45 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 23:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.438 mASD
07 Oct 22:30 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 22:15 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 22:00 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 21:45 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 21:30 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 21:15 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 21:00 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.440 mASD
07 Oct 20:45 ▬ steady 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 20:30 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.439 mASD
07 Oct 20:15 ▬ steady 0.438 mASD
07 Oct 20:00 0.438 mASD

Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Buildwas
  • Watercourse: River Severn
  • Nearest Town: Buildwas
  • County: Shropshire
  • Coordinates: 52°38'11"N 2°31'30"W (52.636354, -2.524962)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 7 Sep 1977
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
Technical details: references, datum, range, flow archive
  • Station Reference: 2134
  • RLOI id: 2058 (the EA's check-for-flooding station id)
  • EA Gauge ID: 2134-level-stage-i-15_min-mASD
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: mASD
  • Typical rise rate: 3 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Worcestershire Middle Severn
  • Typical Range: 0.424 – 3.400 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 3,717 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 6 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: 0.44 mASD (EA at 8 Oct 01:45)
  • 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.

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

Same river system, separate branch

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.

101 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.0 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 71 report not discharging, and for 30 the monitor is offline or has not reported, so their status is not known.

💧
Buildwas (Park View)🏊 Bathing water
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary River Severn · 1.0 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Shyte Brook · 5.2 km upstream along the river
52 spills · 559 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Shyte Brook · 6.1 km upstream along the river
37 spills · 57 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of River Severn · 8.5 km upstream along the river
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Trib Of River Severn · 18.5 km upstream along the river
15 spills · 80 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Tern · 26.1 km upstream along the river
18 spills · 164 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Tern · 26.1 km upstream along the river
9 spills · 22 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Cound Brook · 26.4 km upstream along the river
3 spills · 17 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last

93 more further upstream, up to 154.4 km away along the river.

Nearby, connection not known

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

💧
Severn Trent Water · into Lyde Brook · 2.2 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
15 spills · 19 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn (Non Tidal) · 3.2 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
28 spills · 133 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Doseley SPS🏊 Bathing water
Severn Trent Water · into Burroughs Bank Brook · 3.5 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
11 spills · 63 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Oldcotes Dyke · 3.6 km away in a straight line · its recorded watercourse is not the one mapped beside it
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into River Severn (Non Tidal) · 3.8 km away in a straight line · discharges to the sea, an estuary or tidal water
20 spills · 25 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of River Severn · 4.1 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
54 spills · 45 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
💧
Severn Trent Water · into Tributary Of The River Severn · 4.2 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
0 spills · 0 hours in 2025
Not discharging now

8 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 3.40 m on about 30 days. This year so far: 17 days.

2026 17 days so far
2025 26 days
2024 48 days, 11 of them high · 11 high
2023 46 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
2022 13 days, 5 of them high · 5 high
2021 27 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
2020 43 days, 12 of them high · 12 high
2019 40 days, 4 of them high · 4 high
2018 20 days
2017 4 days

Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out. The darker part is days above 4.88 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.

Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 4 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 1.1 km away).

4severe warnings 49flood warnings 0flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 16 Nov 2025 — River Severn at Ironbridge and Jackfield

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2025 0 1 0
2024 0 8 0
2023 0 7 0
2022 1 5 0
2021 0 5 0
2020 3 8 0
2019 0 5 0
2016 0 1 0
2015 0 1 0
2014 0 3 0
2013 0 2 0
2012 0 2 0
2011 0 1 0

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 Buildwas flood history.

Flood areas linked to this gauge

Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 4 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.

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
0.53
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
1,020 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +5% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
1.6%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
664 m³/s
22 Feb 2022 · daily mean, not the instantaneous peak
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 61.8020834.3011.605% (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 10%Grassland 61%Arable 22%Heath/scrub 3%Urban 3%Other 1%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, reservoir influence, public water supply, groundwater abstraction, 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

A Ultrasonic gauging station which can be affected by substantial modifications during low flows.

More detail

The catchment

Large diverse catchment. Geology largely mixed Palaeozoic formations with moorland and forestry land use in the wet headwaters. Permian Sandstones dominate in the lower reaches with extensive Drift cover of Boulder Clay and sands and gravels and mixed farming landuse.

The station

Multiple US cross-configuration gauging station.

How it measures flow

Following refurbishment of the ultrasonic gauge in 2005, only lower racks working until March 2008, possible over-estimation of high flows under review. Flows fully contained by Buildwas Bridge and floodbanks.

Flow regime

Substantial modifications of lowest flows by Clywedog and Vyrnwy Reservoirs and Shropshire Groundwater Scheme; otherwise artificial effects modest.

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
Ultrasonic
Operating since
1984
Station datum
36.0 mAOD
Flow record
1984–2024 · 40 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
54
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Severn at Buildwas flooding today?

The current level is 0.44m, which is within the typical range of 0.42 to 3.40m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Buildwas?

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 Severn at Buildwas?

The typical range at this station is 0.42m to 3.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 3.40m 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 →