Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan water level

Name: Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan water level (Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada)
Creator: Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada
License: https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada

River gauge, Cowichan River, British Columbia, Canada

Directions

Very low for mid-October

Water level

0.30m Steady over the last 24 hours

Measured Oct 20, 2026, 05:05 AM PDT (1 hour ago)

Flow: 7.01 m³/s

History

7 days 30 days

Water level Normal range (10–90 %)

What this means

At 0.30 m, the Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan is far below normal for mid-October.

That puts it 0.51 m below the median of 0.81 m for mid-October, based on 15 years of readings.

The level has held steady over the past 24 hours. Without real rain upstream, that is unlikely to change quickly. Over the past 30 days it has moved between 0.21 m and 0.31 m.

Fall is often low-water season on rivers, and it usually takes a few days of steady rain to change that.

Compared with 15 years of daily readings for this time of year. How to read levels

Key numbers

Median for this date: 0.81 m0.51 m below the median for this date
Normal for this date: 0.31 m – 1.56 m8 years in 10 fall in this range (15 years of records)
Lowest and highest in 30 days: 0.21 m – 0.31 m
Lowest and highest in 12 months: 0.22 m – 0.30 m

Conditions at Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan

Low water means shallow riffles on canoe trips and warmer water for fish.

Flood advisories come from the provincial river forecast centre.

About the Cowichan River

The Cowichan River is a Canadian Heritage River on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Its headwater is Cowichan Lake. The river flows east over Skutz Falls and through Marie Canyon towards its mouth at Cowichan Bay. The river's drainage basin is 795 square kilometres (307 sq mi) in size.

Weather at the gauge

Rain in the last 3 days: 1.1 mm. Rain that falls upstream can take hours or days to show up at a river gauge.

20 Tue 18° 7° – Wind 15 km/h

21 Wed 21° 9° – Wind 13 km/h

22 Thu 15° 7° – Wind 4 km/h

23 Fri 14° 4° – Wind 6 km/h

24 Sat 15° 4° – Wind 6 km/h

25 Sun 16° 6° – Wind 6 km/h

26 Mon 17° 6° – Wind 7 km/h

Forecast: Open-Meteo

Sunrise 07:45 AM Sunset 06:18 PM Daylight 10 hr, 34 min First quarter 68%

Map

Other gauges on the Cowichan River

Gauge	Level	Compared with normal	24 hours	Distance
Cowichan River near DuncanRiver gauge, Cowichan River	0.30 m	Low	−0.01 m	25 km

Nearby gauges

Gauge	Level	Compared with normal	24 hours	Distance
Cowichan Lake near Lake CowichanLake, Cowichan Lake	0.52 m	Low	−0.01 m	0.6 km
Harris Creek near Lake CowichanRiver gauge, Harris Creek	1.33 m	Very low	−0.01 m	17 km
Cottonwood Creek HeadwatersRiver gauge	0.64 m	Very low	−0.01 m	19 km
Jump Creek at the MouthRiver gauge, Jump Creek	0.81 m	Normal	±0	24 km
Bings Creek near the MouthRiver gauge, Bings Creek	1.36 m	Very low	±0	24 km
Chemainus River near WestholmeRiver gauge, Chemainus River	0.61 m	Normal	±0	26 km
South Nanaimo River near JunctionRiver gauge, South Nanaimo River	2.21 m	Low	−0.01 m	27 km
Renfrew Creek near Port RenfrewRiver gauge, Renfrew Creek	1.23 m	Low		27 km

Questions and answers

What is a normal level for the Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan in mid-October?

The median for mid-October is 0.81 m. In 8 years out of 10 the reading falls between 0.31 m and 1.56 m, based on 15 years of records.

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

What is the water level of Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan today?

On Oct 20, 2026, 05:05 AM PDT, the water level was 0.30 m. Steady over the last 24 hours.

Is Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan rising or falling?

Steady over the last 24 hours. Up 0.08 m over the last 7 days.

Is the level of Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan normal?

Very low for mid-October. Compared with 15 years of daily readings for this time of year.

How often is this data updated?

Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada publishes a new reading every hour. This page refreshes within minutes of each update.

Where does this data come from?

The values come directly from Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada, the official operator of this gauge, and are published under the Open Government Licence – Canada. We do not estimate or model live values.

For specialists

Station codes, datum, parameters, data quality and downloads

Operator: Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada
Station code: eccc:08HA002 (Agency page)
Coordinates: 48.82591, -124.05305 (WGS84)
Vertical datum: station datum (assumed datum)
Update interval: every hour
Licence: Open Government Licence – Canada. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada

Published series

Parameter	Last value	Time (UTC)	Quality
Water level	0.30 m	2026-10-20 12:05	Provisional
Flow	7.01 m³/s	2026-10-20 12:05	Provisional

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How to cite

Environment and Climate Change Canada – Water Survey of Canada: Cowichan River at Lake Cowichan (eccc:08HA002). Accessed October 20, 2026 via Nivelmap, https://nivelmap.com/en/canada/british-columbia/cowichan-river-at-lake-cowichan

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