NRA Severn-Trent 4 I I HYDROMETRiC REFORT AND CATALOGUE 1990 NRA Severn-Trent Region o E n v ir o n m e n t Ag e n c y NATIONAL LIBRARY & INFORMATION SERVICE HEAD OFFICE Rio House. Waterside Drive, Aztec West, Almondsbury. Bristol BS32 4UD HYDROMETRIC REPORT AND CATALOGUE 1990 NATIONAL RIVERS AUTHORITY SEVERN-TRENT REGION NRA National Rivers Authority Severn-Trent Region Water Resources Section Hydrometric Data Group Sapphire East Nationc Authority Streetsbrook Road inform' ntre Solihull B91 1QT Head C DECEMBER 1991 Class No .. RC.TL ENVIRONMENT AGENCY I Accession 099797 FOREWORD This Hydrometric Report and Catalogue is one of a series of annual hydrological summaries produced by the NRA Severn-Trent Region. It contains two sections, firstly a hydrological review of the year 1990 with a range of data summaries at key sites, and Secondly, a hydrometric catalogue listing the river flow and level stations, groundwater boreholes, rainfall gauges and climate stations maintained by the region. INTRODUCTION The 1990 Hydrometric Report and Catalogue (or Yearbook) represents the second produced since the National Rivers Authority assumed responsibility for hydrometric data in the Severn-Trent Region. The Yearbook gives an indication of the type and availability of data that can be produced for established measurement stations. The Catalogue Section provides comprehensive lists of these stations with maps to identify their location. The preparation of the Yearbook depends on a combined effort, both from Field Hydrometric staff within the four Area offices and staff within the Hydrometric Data Group at Solihull. The co-ordination of the Yearbook has been supervised by David Grimshaw, Senior Hydrologist, and any mistakes or suggestions should be passed to David or his staff, at Sapphire East. It should be remembered that the Yearbook can only provide an indication of the data available, and that it would be unrealistic to summarise all of the data that is collected by the Data Section. Requests for data not shown should be directed to the staff of the Hydrometric Data Group. With the increasing need for accurate hydrometric information to support the technical functions of the Authority, this Yearbook is produced to give both an indication of the available data, and to act as a reference for the year 1990. 1990 HYDROMETRIC REPORT AND CATALOGUES TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES HYDROMETRIC SUMMARY AND DATA FOR 1990 A.HYDROMETRIC REVIEW B.CURRENT METER GAUGINGS FOR 1990 I.Flow Gaugings May-October 1990 2 .Specific Survey Tables C.PROCESSED FLOW DATA 1.Monthly Mean Flows For Selected Sites 2.Annual Hydrographs And Flow Duration Curves D .RAINFALL 1.Daily Rainfall Totals For Selected Sites 2.Areal Average Rainfall For 1990 E. GROUNDWATER 1.Groundwater Hydrographs For 1990 F.MISCELLANEOUS DATA I.Soil Moisture And Evapotranspiration 2.Water Temperature SITE CATALOGUE (coloured section) A.RIVER LEVEL AND FLOW STATIONS B.RAINFALL INTENSITY STATIONS C.DAILY RAINFALL STATIONS D.CLIMATE STATIONS E .GROUNDWATER OBSERVATION BOREHOLES - TRENT - SEVERN HYDROMETRIC DATA GROUP-INFORMATION 1990 HYDROMETRIC REPORT AND CATALOGUE TABLES AND FIGURES-DATA SECTION TABLES Page no. TABLE 1 FLOW GAUGINGS MAY-OCTOBER 1990 4 TABLE 2 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - UPPER SEVERN 35 TABLE 3 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - AVON 38 TABLE 4 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - LOWER SEVERN AND GLOUCESTER 40 TABLE 5 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - UPPER TRENT 41 TABLE 6 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - DOVE AND CHURNET 44 TABLE 7 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - DERWENT 45 TABLE 8 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - SOAR 46 TABLE 9 LOW FLOW SURVEYS 1989/90 - LOWER TRENT 47 TABLE 10 MONTHLY MEAN FLOWS FOR SELECTED SITES 51 TABLE 11 DAILY RAINFALL TOTALS AT SELECTED SITES 70 TABLE 12 AREAL RAINFALL FOR 1990 75 FIGURES FIGURE 1 LOCATION MAP FOR SAMPLE SURFACE WATER SITES 54 FIGURE 2 ANNUAL HYDROGRAPH AND FLOW DURATION CURVE FOR YEATON 55 FIGURE 3 11 M tt " WALCOT 56 FIGURE 4 If 11 tt " HOOKAGATE 57 FIGURE 5 ff II it " BEWDLEY 58 11 FIGURE 6 ff tt " STARETON 59 FIGURE 7 ff If it " STOKE 60 FIGURE 8 ff It tt " CALTHORPE PK.61 ff If FIGURE 9 it " LEA MARSTON 62 It FIGURE 10 fl tt " IZAAK WALTON 63 FIGURE 11 ff If tt " MARSTON 64 ft It tt FIGURE 12 " WINGFIELD 4T5V* 65 iv Vf FIGURE 13 ti " DERBY 66 VI FIGURE 14 ft It " LITTLETHORPE 67 If ft FIGURE 15 ti " COLWICK 68 FIGURE 16 LOCATION MAP FOR GROUNDWATER EXAMPLE SITES 77 FIGURE 17 LONG TERM GROUNDWATER HYDROGRAPH FOR WEEFORD FLATS 78 ft tt FIGURE 18 It SUNNYBANK FARM 78 ft FIGURE 19 it fl TWO DALE BARN 79 ft it It FIGURE 20 SWINNOW WOOD 79 11 tt II FIGURE 21 MORRIS DANCERS 80 11 FIGURE 22 tt 11 HAZEL HILL 80 11 FIGURE 23 tt 11 HODHILL FARM 81 It it FIGURE 24 It HEATHLANES 81 FIGURE 25 If it 11 CHECK HILL 82 ft tf FIGURE 26 VI SHRAWLEY 82 FIGURE 27 ft It ff BURCOTT LANE 83 ft FIGURE 28 Vf ft ANTHONY * S CROSS 83 FIGURE 29 SOIL MOISTURE DEFICIT VALUES - SEVERN 85 tt tt FIGURE 30 II - TRENT 85 FIGURE 31 ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION VALUES - SEVERN 86 it FIGURE 32 tt 11 - TRENT 86 FIGURE 33 ANNUAL PLOT OF MEAN DAILY WATER TEMPERATURE FOR BRANSFORD 87 it FIGURE 34 tt 11 " BEWDLEY 87 TABLES AND FIGURES-CATALOGUE SECTION TABLES TABLE 13 LEVEL AND FLOW MEASUREMENT STATIONS C2 TABLE 14 RAINFALL INTENSITY STATIONS C10 TABLE 15 DAILY RAINFALL STATIONS C14 TABLE 16 CLIMATALOGICAL STATIONS C23 TABLE 17 GROUNDWATER OBSERVATION BOREHOLES C24 FIGURES FIGURE 35 LOCATION OF LEVEL AND FLOW MEASUREMENT STATIONS C9 FIGURE 36 LOCATION OF INTERROGABLE RAINFALL INTENSITY STATIONS Cl 3 A .HYDROMETRIC REVIEW The year started and finished with above average monthly rainfall totals,but the spring and summer were very dry with the exception of June when rainfall was slightly above average.River flows generally reflected this pattern with exceptionally high flows in the Severn catchment during late January and early February and low flows during most of the spring and summer.However,the low base flows and high soil moisture deficits en­ sured that river flows were below average during December despite above average rainfall. This combination of flood and drought,on top of routine work,resulted in another exceptionally busy year for the hydrometric staff.A total of 2960 current meter gaugings were carried out,over 700 in August,of which 560 were in the first fortnight.This was the period when flows were generally at their lowest,although in some catchments very low flows persisted well into September. Many of the gaugings were taken as part of specific low flow surveys aimed at providing a set of comparable flow measurements within individual catchments or sub catchments.Together with those for 1975/76,1964 and 1989 they provide an invaluable dataset for low flow assessment. As during 1989,Water Resources staff worked closely with the Catchment Regulation section to ensure that data was available to monitor flow re­ cessions against abstraction threshold values.A larger than normal number of gaugings were required to support this function. The hydrometric data collection networks saw considerable change during the year although no new major gauging stations were completed.The qual­ ity of flow data from Penkridge and Kidderminster was greatly improved by the installation of a flat vec weir and ultrasonic gauge respectively.How­ ever, many sites were reopened or upgraded to provide flow data in support of NRA functions.All of these had been closed in 1984 following a network review, but the formation of the NRA has given a new impetus and importance to water resource work,much of which depends on data from the permanent river level and flow monitoring network. Five Stations in Lower Trent were reopened, three to support studies of groundwater resources and two for flow forecasting and local flooding in­ vestigations. In the Severn catchment,eight stations were reopened, princi­ pally to provide data for monitoring low flows against threshold values specified in abstraction licences. Within the data processing section work started on creating a database system which captures current meter gaugings as they are processed.lt is planned that all historic gauging results will eventually be held within the system allowing greatly improved access, manipulation and use of these data.At the time of publication 43000 are stored on the database archive. This improved accessibility,combined with the extensive development of ex­ isting computer programs has greatly increased the ease and speed at which gauging data can be plotted for the assesssment of level to flow rating relationships. 1 B.CURRENT METER GAUGINGS FOR 1990. A current meter gauging is a direct measurement of flow taken over a short period of time which is usually between fifteen minutes and two hours de­ pending on the size of river or stream.Gaugings are carried out for a va­ riety of reasons;the principal ones being:to monitor the accuracy of rat­ ing curves used for flow processing,to check calibrations of ultrasonic and electromagnetic flowgauges,to monitor river flows for licensing and abstraction, to provide data for pollution control and quality monitoring and to investigate the hydrological characteristics of catchments. 1. FLOW GAUGINGS MAY-OCTOBER 1990. The current meter gaugings in table 1 (page 4) cover the period from 01/05/90 to 31/10/90.They demonstrate the gradual decline in flows over the region, although the data should be used with care as the number of gaugings available at any one site varies tremendously and the lowest flows which occurred need not necessarily be represented.