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⏱ Last reading 5h ago
-0.03

Sulham

Sulham Brook ⚙ Structure
Vale of White Horse catchment • Sulham • West Berkshire • ID: 2195TH • Level
(5h ago) • 4 readings/hr • 145 views

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

Last Level
-0.026 mASD
⚠ 5h ago · may be out of date
24h Max
0.027 mASD
24h Min
-0.034 mASD
Typical Range
0.03 - 0.40
mASD
Highest Recorded
1.06 mASD
20 Jul 2007
Since Sep 1991
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

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.

Recent Readings

Falling · -3 cm over 5h
23 Aug 19:00 ▼ -0.2 cm -0.026 mASD
23 Aug 18:45 ▼ -0.4 cm -0.024 mASD
23 Aug 18:30 ▼ -0.4 cm -0.020 mASD
23 Aug 18:15 ▼ -0.9 cm -0.016 mASD
23 Aug 18:00 ▼ -0.9 cm -0.007 mASD
23 Aug 17:45 ▬ steady 0.002 mASD
23 Aug 17:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.002 mASD
23 Aug 17:15 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.003 mASD
23 Aug 17:00 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.006 mASD
23 Aug 16:45 ▬ steady 0.007 mASD
23 Aug 16:30 ▬ steady 0.007 mASD
23 Aug 16:15 ▲ +0.6 cm 0.007 mASD
23 Aug 16:00 ▼ -0.3 cm 0.001 mASD
23 Aug 15:45 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.004 mASD
23 Aug 15:30 ▲ +0.2 cm 0.008 mASD
23 Aug 15:15 ▲ +0.9 cm 0.006 mASD
23 Aug 15:00 ▼ -0.9 cm -0.003 mASD
23 Aug 14:45 ▼ -0.4 cm 0.006 mASD
23 Aug 14:30 ▲ +0.7 cm 0.010 mASD
23 Aug 14:15 0.003 mASD

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2011 for the 12 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.7 km away).

20flood warnings 164flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 6 Feb 2026Properties closest to the River Kennet at the Burghfield, Southcote, Coley and Holybrook areas

Year by year
YearWarningsAlerts
2026 2 66
2025 2 10
2024 8 11
2023 1 15
2022 0 2
2021 0 6
2020 3 10
2019 0 7
2018 0 4
2016 0 8
2015 0 2
2014 4 7
2013 0 4
2012 0 10
2011 0 2

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 Sulham flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Monitoring Station: Sulham
  • Watercourse: Sulham Brook
  • Nearest Town: Sulham
  • County: West Berkshire
  • Coordinates: 51°27'44"N 1°4'38"W (51.462237, -1.077263)
  • Open in: Google Maps · Apple Maps (opens your maps app)
  • Date Opened: 1 Jan 1990
  • Status: Active
  • Station Type: River level station
  • Station Reference: 2195TH
  • EA Gauge ID: 2195TH-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: ⚙ Yes — lock, weir, sluice or pump
  • Catchment Area: Vale of White Horse
  • Typical Range: 0.032 – 0.400 mASD
  • Drainage Area: 3.0 km² upstream of this gauge
  • EA Cross-check: -0.03 mASD (EA at 23 Aug 19:00)
  • 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.

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
0.41
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
690 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +1% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.2%
largely rural
Highest Recorded Flow
3.89 m³/s
30 Oct 2000
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 0.0700.2340.0330.0035% (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 33%Grassland 31%Arable 35%Urban 2%
Arable 52% → 35% since 1990

Flow affected by: effluent returns.

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

Gauging station located on Sulham Brook, a small tributary of the main River Thames.

More detail

The catchment

A very rural catchment developed mostly on Chalk (with substantial Drift cover); some woodland on the Tertiary outcrops.

The station

Flat V weir. U/s and d/s levels monitored.

How it measures flow

Modest d/s gradient and limited channel capacity/siltation cause the structure to drown for substantial periods. Silt build-up regularly caused by cows wading upstream of the weir. Both factors affect flow calculation.

Flow regime

Relatively responsive regime. Topographical catchment is substantially less than the true contributing area; runoff (which is reduced by gw abstraction) is therefore unrepresentative - in wet years runoff can greatly exceed rainfall. Levels/flows affected by STW until the mid-1990s (when effluent diverted).

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
Flat-V weir
Operating since
1991–2012
Station datum
42.7 mAOD
Flow record
1991–2012 · 21 yrs · 100% complete
Hydrometric area
39
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the Sulham Brook at Sulham flooding today?

The current level is -0.03m, which is below the typical range. Flooding is very unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Sulham?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently falling. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, 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 3.0mm 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 Sulham Brook at Sulham?

The typical range at this station is 0.03m to 0.40m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 0.40m are higher than usually seen and may indicate a flood risk.

How often is this river level data updated?

Readings are taken by the Environment Agency gauge roughly every 15 minutes and FloodRadar refreshes its data continuously, so the level shown is normally less than an hour old.

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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, floods since 1946, warning history, river behaviour and nearby storm overflows. £19 one-off. Learn more →