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Chafford water level

River gauge, River Medway, Kent, United Kingdom

Directions

Below the normal range

Water level

0.13m Up 0.02 m over the last 24 hours

0 1 3 4 Highest onrecord 3.53 m Lowest on record -0.00 m

History

0.100.150.20mOct 10Oct 12Oct 14Oct 15Oct 17Bottom of normal range0.100.150.20mOct 10Oct 14Oct 17Bottom of normal range
0.100.150.20mSep 17Sep 25Oct 2Oct 10Oct 17Bottom of normal range0.100.150.20mSep 17Oct 2Oct 17Bottom of normal range
Water level Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range

What this means

At 0.13 m, the River Medway at Chafford is below normal.

The usual range here runs from 0.15 m to 2.50 m.

The water is rising: up 0.02 m over the past 24 hours. Over the past 30 days it has moved between 0.07 m and 0.21 m.

Autumn rain usually starts to lift rivers again after the summer low.

Compared with the normal range the agency publishes for this gauge. How to read levels

Key numbers

Normal range
0.15 m – 2.50 m
Lowest and highest in 30 days
0.07 m – 0.21 m
Highest on record
3.53 mOctober 12, 2000
Lowest on record
0.00 mJanuary 4, 2006

On the river at Chafford

Low, clear water makes fish wary, and anglers often do better early and late in the day. For canoeists, shallow riffles mean scraped hulls and the odd portage.

Flood warnings for the area come from the Environment Agency.

About the River Medway

River Medway

The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in East Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent.

Read more on Wikipedia

Text and image from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA.

Weather at the gauge

Rain in the last 3 days: 3.6 mm. Rain that falls upstream can take hours or days to show up at a river gauge.

17 Sat 13° 7° 0.3 mm Wind 21 km/h
18 Sun 13° 7° 2.2 mm, 46% Wind 20 km/h
19 Mon 12° 6° – Wind 18 km/h
20 Tue 14° 10° 2.7 mm, 31% Wind 12 km/h
21 Wed 13° 8° 2.1 mm, 50% Wind 36 km/h
22 Thu 14° 7° 0.6 mm, 33% Wind 32 km/h
23 Fri 13° 8° 4.1 mm, 57% Wind 26 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:26 AM Sunset 06:05 PM Daylight 10 hr, 38 min First quarter 41%

Map

Other gauges on the River Medway

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Colliers Land BridgeRiver gauge, River Medway 0.22 m Very low ±0 0.8 km
Summerford BridgeRiver gauge, River Medway 0.04 m Normal ±0 4.6 km
Leigh Flood Storage AreaRiver gauge, River Medway 0.76 m Normal ±0 7.3 km
Town LockRiver gauge, River Medway 1.15 m Normal +0.02 m 9.5 km
Forest RowRiver gauge, River Medway −0.02 m Lowest on record −0.03 m 9.8 km
Hartlake BridgeRiver gauge, River Medway 0.60 m Normal +0.02 m 13 km
Yalding Hampstead LockRiver gauge, River Medway 1.64 m Normal ±0 19 km
TestonRiver gauge, River Medway 0.36 m Normal ±0 23 km
East Farleigh Gate UpstreamRiver gauge, River Medway 1.30 m Normal −0.06 m 25 km
MaidstoneRiver gauge, River Medway 0.32 m Normal +0.03 m 28 km
Allington MarinaRiver gauge, River Medway 0.09 m Normal −0.01 m 29 km
Allington LockRiver gauge, River Medway 3.86 m No reference yet +0.01 m 29 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
PenshurstRiver gauge, Eden Tributary Medway 0.20 m Normal +0.01 m 3.1 km
Hendal BridgeRiver gauge, Eridge Stream Tributary Medway 0.11 m Low ±0 4.0 km
Vexour BridgeRiver gauge, Eden Tributary Medway 0.71 m Normal +0.02 m 5.0 km
EdenbridgeRiver gauge, Eden Tributary Medway 0.99 m Normal +0.02 m 9.1 km
Bartley MillRiver gauge, River Teise 0.13 m Normal −0.02 m 12 km

Questions and answers

What is the typical range for the River Medway at Chafford?

The Environment Agency gives a typical range of 0.15 m to 2.50 m for this gauge.

Is the river level the same as the depth of the water?

No. The reading is measured from a fixed zero mark at the gauge, so 0.13 m on the gauge does not mean the water is that deep.

What is the water level of Chafford today?

On 17 Oct 2026, 15:30 BST, the water level was 0.13 m. Up 0.02 m over the last 24 hours.

Is Chafford rising or falling?

Up 0.02 m over the last 24 hours. Up 0.03 m over the last 7 days.

Is the level of Chafford normal?

Below the normal range. Compared with the normal range the agency publishes for this gauge.

What is the highest water level ever recorded at Chafford?

The highest level on record is 3.53 m on October 12, 2000. The lowest is 0.00 m on January 4, 2006.

How often is this data updated?

The Environment Agency publishes a new reading every 15 minutes. This page refreshes within minutes of each update.

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads
Operator
Environment Agency
Station code
ea:E1541 (Agency page)
Coordinates
51.14454, 0.16847 (WGS84)
Vertical datum
station datum
Update interval
every 15 minutes
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains Environment Agency data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0

Published series

ParameterLast valueTime (UTC)Quality
Water level 0.13 m 2026-10-17 14:30 Provisional

Download

Embed this gauge

Add a live card for this gauge to your website. It updates on its own and links back here.

How to cite

Environment Agency: Chafford (ea:E1541). Accessed October 17, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/united-kingdom/kent/chafford

How we check values

Each reading is stored as published. We hold back values that jump faster than physically plausible and show the measurement time with every value.

Readings are provisional, can be delayed or wrong and are not a flood warning. Read the disclaimer