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Spring Gardens Dam water level

River gauge, River Gaunless, Durham, United Kingdom

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Right now

Lower than ever recorded here

Water level

0.11m Steady over the last 24 hours

0 5 10 Highest onrecord 10.77 m Lowest on record 0.13 m

History

History
0.100.100.10mOct 16Oct 16Oct 16Oct 17Oct 170.100.100.10mOct 16Oct 16Oct 17
Water level Top of normal rangeBottom of normal range

What this means

At 0.11 m, the River Gaunless at Spring Gardens Dam is at a record low.

It has now dropped past the published record low of 0.13 m (July 13, 2006). The usual range here runs from 0.37 m to 1.63 m.

It has barely moved over the past 24 hours. Without real rain upstream, that is unlikely to change quickly. Over the past 30 days it has moved between 0.10 m and 0.11 m.

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

Compared with the highest and lowest levels the agency has recorded at this gauge. How to read levels

Key numbers

Normal range
0.37 m – 1.63 m
Highest on record
10.77 mSeptember 26, 2012
Lowest on record
0.13 mJuly 13, 2006
Lowest on record
0.03 m below the lowest level on record

On the river at Spring Gardens Dam

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 Gaunless

River Gaunless

The Gaunless is a tributary river of the Wear in County Durham, England. Its name is Old Norse, meaning "useless". The Gaunless Viaduct, built in 1825, was the tallest viaduct on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway.

Read more on Wikipedia

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

Weather at the gauge

No rain in the last 3 days.

17 Sat 10° 5° – Wind 18 km/h
18 Sun 11° 5° – Wind 15 km/h
19 Mon 13° 7° 0.3 mm, 78% Wind 18 km/h
20 Tue 12° 9° 1.8 mm, 41% Wind 15 km/h
21 Wed 9° 6° 11 mm, 51% Wind 20 km/h
22 Thu 11° 2° 3.6 mm, 39% Wind 19 km/h
23 Fri 8° 5° 30 mm, 78% Wind 31 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:40 AM Sunset 06:06 PM Daylight 10 hr, 27 min First quarter 43%

Map

Other gauges on the River Gaunless

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Ramshaw MillRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.07 m Very low ±0 1.0 km
West AucklandRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.13 m Normal ±0 1.4 km
LowlandsRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.07 m Normal ±0 3.6 km
Dovecote HillRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.46 m Very low ±0 4.7 km
South ChurchRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.04 m Lowest on record ±0 5.4 km
CopleyRiver gauge, River Gaunless 0.07 m Very low ±0 8.3 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge Level Compared with normal 24 hours Distance
Oakley Cross BeckRiver gauge 0.20 m Low ±0 1.3 km
Witton ParkRiver gauge, River Wear 0.31 m Very low −0.01 m 4.3 km
BedburnRiver gauge, Bedburn Beck 0.10 m Very low ±0 7.5 km
Crook West Bridge StreetRiver gauge, Crook Beck 0.01 m Very low ±0 9.0 km

Questions and answers

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 0.11 m on the gauge does not mean the water is that deep.

What is the water level of Spring Gardens Dam today?

On 17 Oct 2026, 19:45 BST, the water level was 0.11 m. Steady over the last 24 hours.

Is Spring Gardens Dam rising or falling?

Steady over the last 24 hours.

Is the level of Spring Gardens Dam normal?

Lower than ever recorded here. Compared with the highest and lowest levels the agency has recorded at this gauge.

What is the highest water level ever recorded at Spring Gardens Dam?

The highest level on record is 10.77 m on September 26, 2012. The lowest is 0.13 m on July 13, 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.

Where does this data come from?

The values come directly from the Environment Agency, the official operator of this gauge, and are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. We do not estimate or model live values.

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads
Operator
Environment Agency
Station code
ea:024024 (Agency page)
Coordinates
54.63424, -1.74202 (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 0.11 m 2026-10-17 18:45 Provisional

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How to cite

Environment Agency: Spring Gardens Dam (ea:024024). Accessed October 17, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/united-kingdom/durham/spring-gardens-dam

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.