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0.18

Pooley Bridge

Eamont
Eden and Esk catchment • Pooley Bridge • Westmorland and Furness • ID: 761605 • Level
(23m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 160 views

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Current Level
0.181 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.185 m
24h Min
0.181 m
Typical Range
0.15 - 1.10
m
Highest Recorded
2.71 m
EA official record
2.57 in our data (since Mar 1976)
Current level is 7% of this
🚽 Sewage overflows nearby

Recent Water Levels

🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day

Recent Readings

Steady over 6h
24 Aug 00:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
24 Aug 00:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
24 Aug 00:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 23:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 23:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 23:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 23:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 22:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 21:30 ▼ -0.1 cm 0.181 m
23 Aug 21:15 ▲ +0.1 cm 0.182 m
23 Aug 21:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 20:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 20:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 20:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 20:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 19:45 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 19:30 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 19:15 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 19:00 ▬ steady 0.181 m
23 Aug 18:45 0.181 m

Rainfall & Weather

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Flood history near this gauge

Official Environment Agency warnings issued since 2006 for the 6 flood areas linked to this gauge (nearest 0.5 km away).

5severe warnings 20flood warnings 185flood alerts

Most recent flood warning: 21 Jan 2024River Eamont at Eamont Bridge, Kemplay Foot, Skirsgill Lane and Southwaite Green Mill

Year by year
YearSevereWarningsAlerts
2026 0 0 3
2025 0 0 9
2024 0 1 4
2023 0 0 7
2022 0 0 3
2021 0 2 8
2020 0 3 10
2019 0 0 9
2018 0 0 3
2017 0 0 4
2016 0 0 3
2015 4 9 13
2014 0 0 9
2013 0 2 7
2012 0 0 8
2011 0 0 4
2010 0 0 8
2009 1 3 11
2008 0 0 16
2007 0 0 23
2006 0 0 23

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 Pooley Bridge flood history.

Nearby Stations

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Station Details

  • Station Reference: 761605
  • EA Gauge ID: 761605-level-stage-i-15_min-m
  • Parameter: Level
  • Unit: m
  • Typical rise rate: 2 cm/hr (p95 sustained over 90 days)
  • Typical data delay: ~22 min (measured reading→publication lag)
  • Tidal: No
  • Lock / structure: No
  • Catchment Area: Eden and Esk
  • Typical Range: 0.147 – 1.100 m
  • Drainage Area: 145 km² upstream of this gauge
  • Flow Data: Available (m³/s) via EA Hydrology
  • EA Cross-check: 0.18 m (EA at 24 Aug 00:15)
  • 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

🌊 Steep & flashy Steep catchment sheds rain quickly — expect fast, sharp rises after heavy rain.

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
0.40
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,329 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +6% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.1%
largely rural
Median Annual Flood
59.44 m³/s
QMED — typical yearly peak flow
Highest Recorded Flow
186 m³/s
5 Dec 2015
Flow-Duration Curve
mean 8.3425.195.261.105% (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 5%Grassland 84%Heath/scrub 3%Urban 1%Other 6%

Flow affected by: surface-water abstraction, public water supply.

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

Compound Crump weir gauges outflows from Ullswater.

More detail

The catchment

Geology largely Borrowdale Volcanics with Skiddaw Slates further downstream. Some Boulder Clay cover. Sheep grazing on rough pasture predominates with some arable in lower reaches, moorland on high ground.

The station

Compound Crump weir just downstream of Ullswater, constructed in 1970, although no records until 1976. Weir is 29.3m wide with all crests 9.1m wide, the centre being 0.55m lower.

How it measures flow

Bed consists of stone and gravel. Some bypassing and drowning at the higher flows (see photos). Flows are measured in a section 200m upstream of a sewage works outlet, carried out by wading until recent ADCP gaugings. Two peak flow ratings applied across period of record derived from current meter gaugings and hydraulic model.

Flow regime

Gauge is just downstream of Ullswater and catchment includes several small tarns. Variable compensation releases. Ullswater occassionally used for public water supply, via pumped pipeline to Haweswater Reservoir. Temporary weir installed at the outlet of Ullswater to raise lake levels to facilitate abstraction under Drought Orders of 1989 and 1995/6.

The flow record

Full period of record peak flow data reviewed and released in October 2018 (WINFAP Files v7). Ratings reviewed in 2022 and data reprocessed for full period of record.

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
Gauging structure
Operating since
1970
Station datum
144.2 mAOD
Flow record
1970–2024 · 54 yrs · 100% complete
Peak-flow record
since 1970
Hydrometric area
76
Measured by
Environment Agency

Frequently asked questions

Is the River Eamont at Pooley Bridge flooding today?

The current level is 0.18m, which is within the typical range of 0.15 to 1.10m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.

Is the river level rising or falling at Pooley Bridge?

Based on the most recent readings, the level is currently steady. The chart above shows the last 7 days of measurements, updated roughly every 15 minutes.

What is a normal level for the River Eamont at Pooley Bridge?

The typical range at this station is 0.15m to 1.10m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.10m 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 →