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Height for "Above a height"
Drag the line on the chart, or type a value:mASD
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You'll be notified when this gauge is rising more than 0.10 m/hr — a sign of rapidly increasing water levels.
You'll be notified when a new storm-overflow (sewage) discharge starts within ~3 km of this gauge, based on the water companies' near-real-time feeds.
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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
0.293 mASD
▼ Easing
24h Max
0.329 mASD
24h Min
0.245 mASD
Typical Range
0.26 - 1.08
mASD
Highest Recorded
2.67 mASD
EA official record
A 3.48 reading (29 Feb 2020) sits in our unverified raw history and is not treated as the record
Current level is 11% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Flood predictions aren't generated for
lock / structure gauges —
their levels are driven by gate operation,
not by catchment rainfall, so the forecast models would have no skill here.
River Flow
90 days
Daily mean discharge (m³/s) with the daily min–max band, from the EA Hydrology API. Flow is the volume of water passing the gauge — often a more direct flood signal than level.
Downstream level
7 days
The level on the DOWNSTREAM side of this lock/weir structure — a separate EA
measure from the main (upstream) reading shown on the Current tab. Threshold bands
are computed from this gauge's own downstream history.
Flow Data: Daily mean flow (m³/s) to 7 Oct (2 days behind — the EA publishes each day's mean a day or two after it ends; unchecked, provisional)via EA Hydrology
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.
9 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.2 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 9 report not discharging.
Severn Trent Water · into Ipstones Brook · 4.8 km away in a straight line · its watercourse is not on the river map
24 spills · 34 hours in 2025
Not discharging now · last
1 other overflow within 6 km is downstream of this gauge or on another branch of the river network, so it is 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 →
In a typical year this gauge reaches its typical high of 1.08 m
on about 70 days.
This year so far: 17 days.
202617 days so far
202540 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202478 days, 11 of them high · 11 high
202395 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202254 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
202162 days, 7 of them high · 7 high
202089 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
201974 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
201864 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
201728 days patchy data
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out, so a year marked patchy may have run high more often than shown.
The darker part is days above 2.40 m, the level this gauge tops only a few days a year.
Flood history near this gauge
Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 12 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.8 km away).
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 Cheddleton flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 12 areas linked to this gauge, nearest first.
🌊 Fairly flashyResponds 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
1,025 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +4% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
2.9%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
27.46 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Daily Mean Flow
42.73 m³/s
26 Oct 2019 · 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.
Crump profile Flat V weir in trapezoidal channel draining catchment with significant modifications to flow regime - replaced 28042 in 1975.
More detail
The catchment
Catchment of moderate relief with mixed geology; primarily Sherwood Sandstone and shales and s'st of the Millstone Grit series. Some blanketing of Boulder Clay and glacial sand and gravel. Contains Leek and Tittesworth Reservoir but otherwise low grade agriculture or pasture.
The station
Crump profile Flat V weir in trapezoidal channel. Drowns out above +0.55mASD, especially owing to weed growth. Prescribed flow point. Replaced 28042 in 1975. At levels above 2.2mASD bypassing occurs along adjacent canal. Cableway de-roped and no longer operational.
How it measures flow
Four peak flow ratings applied across period of record. Gaugings up to bankfull, but some scatter in gaugings and bypassing beyond 2.2m which makes gauging difficult. Rating less reliable beyond this point but still fits gaugings well. High flow gaugings carried out using remote controlled ADCP as cableway no longer used. At lower levels, gaugings waded using ADCP upstream of section or using remote craft.
Flow regime
Substantial modification to flow regime by exports from reservoirs and imports via WRW and industrial usage.
The flow record
Rejected data in 2011 and 2012 due to downstream weed grwoth and sedimentation issues, and in 2015 due to equipment issues. Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in September 2022 (WINFAP Files v11).
How this gauging station is built and how long it has measured (NRFA / UKCEH).
Gauge type
Gauging structure
Operating since
1975
Station datum
132.9 mAOD
Flow record
1975–2024 · 49 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1975
Hydrometric area
28
Measured by
Environment Agency
Nearby Groundwater
Soil Moisture
Frequently asked questions
Is the River Churnet at Basford Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.29m, which is within the typical range of 0.26 to 1.08m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Basford Bridge?
Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling slightly. 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 7.7mm 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.
What is a normal level for the River Churnet at Basford Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.26m to 1.08m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.08m 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:
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7 Jan 2016 Weir section during high flows (Stage = 2.1m)
Looking upstream to gauging station
Looking downstream to gauging station
Weir during low flows