South Cumbria catchment
• Satterthwaite • Westmorland and Furness • ID: 735226 • Level
(25m ago) • 4 readings/hr • 131 views
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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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Current Level
0.615 m
▬ Steady
24h Max
0.623 m
24h Min
0.615 m
Typical Range
0.29 - 1.00
m
Highest Recorded
1.85 m
EA official record
1.85 in our data (since Jan 1976)
Current level is 33% of this
🚽Sewage overflows nearby
Recent Water Levels
🌍 floodradar.co.uk
1 day
EA forecast (official)
Prediction V2
Prediction Eris
Nimbus beta
Experimental model fusing soil moisture, river flow, groundwater and catchment
character. The shaded band is its 10–90% range, widened so that about 80% of recent outcomes fall inside it.
Under evaluation — not yet promoted, so treat as a second opinion.
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.
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
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.
2 storm overflows are traced upstream of this gauge, the nearest 1.3 km away along the river. 0 report discharging now, 2 report not discharging.
United Utilities · into Black Beck · 4.6 km upstream along the river
115 spills · 1,825 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 1.00 m
on about 22 days.
This year so far: 2 days.
20262 days so far
202534 days, 15 of them high · 15 high
202421 days, 1 of them high · 1 high
202333 days, 10 of them high · 10 high
202210 days, 3 of them high · 3 high
202127 days, 12 of them high · 12 high
202031 days, 17 of them high · 17 high
201921 days, 8 of them high · 8 high
20186 days, 2 of them high · 2 high
201715 days, 6 of them high · 6 high
Counted from each day's highest reading. Days with missing or implausible readings are left out.
The darker part is days above 1.15 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 5 flood
areas linked to this gauge (nearest 3.0 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 Satterthwaite flood history.
Flood areas linked to this gauge
Flood warnings and alerts are issued for whole areas. These are the 5 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
0.45
mixed response
Avg Annual Rainfall
2,059 mm/yr
1991–2020 · +7% since 1941–70
Urban Extent
0.2%
largely rural
Highest Daily Mean Flow
14.93 m³/s
3 Jan 1982 · 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.
Velocity area station gauging a catchment that predominantly drains through Esthwaite Water.
More detail
The catchment
A steep, wet catchment draining Silurian shales, mudstones and sandstones. Minor superficial deposits. Westerly tributary to Windermere. Land-use mostly rural with woodland on valley slopes. No catchment changes known.
The station
Velocity area station opened in May 1968 in an artificially straightened reach. A non-standard wooden sleeper V control was installed Nov 1978. Historically this has been a relatively poor site with weed in the channel, erosion of the left bank, and deposition downstream. The station was closed in April 1983, but reopened in March 1985 when long term investigation of water quality in Esthwaite Water was started. The control was modified and raised approximately 0.1m in August 1999. Removed from peak flows dataset in May 2016 (WINFAP Files v4).
How it measures flow
The highest flows spill onto the left bank. Heavy rainfall brings down appreciable bedloads. The wooden weir was installed in Nov 1978 to stabilise the bed and increase low flow sensitivity. In November 1998 a tree and part of the right bank collapsed into the channel; debris collected and scour took place with resultant gravel deposited upstream of control raising the bed in some places as high as the control. Ongoing channel changes since. No cableway. Bridge gauging was used for high flow gaugings by current meter. ADCP now used.
Flow regime
River does not show a flashy response; majority of catchment drains through Esthwaite Water, giving attenuated response.
The flow record
Revised daily flow data from 9/01/2005 to 31/12/2007 loaded on 11/08/2009 due to new rating: generally slight increases, annual runoff increased by 3%. Missing data for 14 days starting 19/11/2009 due to flood damage and from 2010 to 2012 due to a significant removal of gravel in June 2010. Flows suspended from 21/06/2020 pending new rating. Zero flows between 1976 and 1978 recorded stage below the rating limit.
Timing, not cause. Gauges can move together simply because the same rain fell on both.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Cunsey Beck at Eel House Bridge flooding today?
The current level is 0.62m, which is within the typical range of 0.29 to 1.00m. Flooding is unlikely at this level.
Is the river level rising or falling at Eel House Bridge?
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 Cunsey Beck at Eel House Bridge?
The typical range at this station is 0.29m to 1.00m, based on Environment Agency historical data. Levels above 1.00m 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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