Riverbook

About the data

Not a flood warning service

Riverbook does not issue warnings and nobody watches it around the clock. Readings can be wrong, late or missing, and a page can go out of date without notice. Don’t use it to decide whether a road, bank or crossing can be used. For flood information use floodinfo.ie, for weather warnings Met Éireann, and follow your local authority’s advice. If life is at risk, call 112 or 999.

Where the readings come from

All readings come from waterlevel.ie, the real-time hydrometric service run by the Office of Public Works. Riverbook reads the OPW’s published files at most once every 15 minutes, and also saves each gauge’s five-week file once when it first appears. It is independent of the OPW.

The OPW says only stations numbered 00001 to 41000 are suitable for republication, so Riverbook drops every other station before storing anything. That currently excludes 3 level gauges. A gauge gets a page only once it has at least a day’s worth of real readings.

The OPW’s Hydro-Data site holds processed long-term records. For serious analysis, use that. Riverbook’s archive is raw real-time data kept as it was published, and it may differ from processed records. If the OPW republishes a value for the same time, Riverbook keeps the newer value.

How the numbers work

Level. The height of the water against the gauge’s fixed reference point. That is usually its staff gauge zero, and at some gauges a surveyed datum. It is not water depth, and levels at different gauges can’t be compared.

Trend. The latest reading against one from about three hours earlier. Under one centimetre of change counts as steady.

Map spikes and archive range. Each gauge’s lowest and highest levels in this archive set its range. A spike’s height is where the latest reading sits in that range. Gauges with under seven days of readings are shown as dots.

Highest since. The peak over the last 24 hours, compared with the peak of each earlier day. A reading counts towards a high or low only as far as a neighbouring reading backs it up, so one wild value can’t set a false record. Longer faults can still get through.

Tidal gauges. Riverbook treats a gauge as tidal if its name or waterbody says so, or if its last week of readings keeps swinging up and down about every six hours. This is a judgement from the data, not an OPW classification, and it can be wrong. Tidal gauges are grey on the map and left out of the home page lists.

Stale readings. After two hours without a new reading a gauge is marked late. After a day it is marked stale and drops out of the rankings. After seven days its page is hidden from search engines.

Times are Irish local time. Gaps in the chart are real gaps in the data. Nothing is filled in or estimated.

The OPW’s disclaimer and conditions

The OPW asks anyone reusing this data to refer to its disclaimer, and to make sure anyone they pass data to knows the conditions. So here they are, word for word, from waterlevel.ie and its disclaimer page.

  • Data is provisional, unchecked, and has not been validated to remove invalid or improbable values.
  • Data may be inaccurate due to instrument errors, malfunctions or physical changes at the measurement site.
  • Data may be delayed due to telemetry issues or system malfunctions.
  • Data is provided on a best efforts basis - the OPW will endeavour to maintain data availability, but does not guarantee continuity of services. Recording of data at some stations may cease. Data for such stations will be preserved as part of the OPW Hydrometric archive.
  • It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the data, if used, are accurate and fit for purpose.
  • The Commissioners of Public Works will not be responsible for any loss or damage howsoever arising from the use or interpretation of the data, and reserve the right to reprocess the data as they deem necessary.

Users declaration:

  • The User has read in full, understands and accepts all of the above notes and warnings concerning the source, reliability and use of the data available on this website.
  • The User agrees that the Commissioners of Public Works have the absolute right to reprocess, revise, add to, or remove any data available on this website as they deem necessary, and will in no way hold the Commissioners of Public Works liable for any damage or cost incurred as a result of such acts.
  • The User will use any data available on this website in an appropriate and responsible manner and in accordance with the above notes, warnings and conditions.
  • The User understands that the Commissioners of Public Works do not guarantee the accuracy of any data available on this website, and it is the User’s responsibility to independently verify and quality control any of the data used and ensure that it is fit for use.
  • The User will not pass on any data used from this website to any third party without ensuring that said party is fully aware of the notes, warnings and conditions of use.

Licence and credits

Contains Irish Public Sector Information licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (source http://waterlevel.ie - provided by the Office of Public Works.) See the licence terms. Riverbook has changed the format of the data and added calculations. The OPW has not endorsed Riverbook.

Base map: coastline and Northern Ireland water from Natural Earth (public domain). Rivers and lakes from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Framework Directive layers, licensed CC BY 4.0, simplified and redrawn for this map. Type: Alegreya and Alegreya Sans, SIL Open Font License.

Who runs this

ALGD LTD, registered in Northern Ireland (NI744090). Contact: hello@riverbook.ie. See the privacy page.