Low river levels

[Ken L]

The Severn is currently showing 15cm on the Bewdley gage.

That's 2cm lower than I've ever seen it and it's forecast to drop to 12cm tomorrow.

How are other rivers holding up?

[Phone]

KEN,

WoW Does it have plenty of deep holes.  Fish survival rate in 2cm of water  is near zero on a warm day. I'm missing something since I know it is an established river and fishery

Phone

 

[chesters1]

Stable here ,it takes a lot to effect the river and although it does flood theres plenty of water meadows to do their job and it really never gets very low as it has two sources that join in the village

https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/station/7231?direction=u

You can see how i dont fish for long its shallow with holes so one walk and you catch or put the fish down spooked

Its usually just deep enough for a canoe (now banned) but when the abbey was built it was 5-6 ft deep

Edited July 24, 2020 by chesters1

[Ken L]

The gages are set from a bedrock datum point and record the level of water above that datum.

Summer level at the Bewdley gage typically drops as low as 19 cm in the summer and I have exceptionally seen it as low as 17cm in the past but then there's probably a meter of water out in the middle of the river.

By other local gage is on the Stour at Puxton and summer level there  is typically about 40cm and I doubt the river gets any deeper than that away from the gage.

 

Edit: They actually have an explainer - which is clear as mud.

Turns out it's not a point on the bedrock but a datum derived from the national mapping agencies database:

Quote

 

How are river levels measured?

The Environment agency uses a network of monitoring stations across the country. Each one has its own datum - a height in metres fixed relative to mean sea level. This height is expressed as metres above ordnance datum (mAOD). The river levels we provide for each monitoring station are all relative to its site datum.

If we didn't do this, we'd show some very high measurements, which could cause confusion. By using a local site datum, the river levels are easier to understand, especially by users familiar with the data from a particular monitoring station.

A river's height above ordnance datum can be seen by adding the site datum to the river level.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Ken L

[Tigger]

I wouldn't worry about it Ken, plenty rain forecast anyhow.

Low levels at this time of year are only to be expected and should help the fry stay alive.

Rivers round here are up and down, problem with that is many millions of fry are left in pools as the river drops off and die, river rises again, same thing happens!

Better to be low for a decent spell.

[Ken L]

13 hours ago, Tigger said:

I wouldn't worry about it Ken, plenty rain forecast anyhow.

Low levels at this time of year are only to be expected and should help the fry stay alive.

Rivers round here are up and down, problem with that is many millions of fry are left in pools as the river drops off and die, river rises again, same thing happens!

Better to be low for a decent spell.

Yep,  with no major summer floods so far and loads of bait going in due to furlough, I reckon this could be a very good year for fry recruitment.

[Chris Plumb]

Chalkstreams (least my local ones) have good flow and levels after a wet late winter....

 

 

[Tigger]

I'm guessing that's because your rivers are sort of slow released as they filter through the chalk Chris?

I've yet to fish a genuine chalk streem, i'll manage it one day lol. 

I love their appearance and clarity of water, fantastic waters!

[Ken L]

Holy f....

It's down to 10 cm!

https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/station/2001

If I wasn't such a raspberry at the moment, I'd pop over just to take a look.

[Chris Plumb]

1 hour ago, Tigger said:

I'm guessing that's because your rivers are sort of slow released as they filter through the chalk Chris?

 

Yes - the aquifers were VERY full at the end of Feb - and this station on a Winterbourne close to the Kennet's source is usually dry during the summer - the fact it's still registering ANY flow at all is unusual....https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/station/7112?direction=u