Rivers - There Are Differences Between The Data Available On The Environment Agency’s Website And The National River Flow Archive, Which Time Series Should I Use?

Created: 20 November 2018 Updated: 30 March 2023

We work closely with the National Flow Archive to ensure the daily flow data we provide them with is the same as we hold in our archive. Over time there is a risk that there may be small differences for a small percentage of records at a few sites. The Environment Agency will regard its daily flow data as correct unless there is evidence to prove otherwise.

Note that the NRFA Peak River Flow dataset is to be used as the primary source for flood peak data. The stations selected for the NRFA have been subject to further analysis for peak flow quality assessment including additional peak flow data that pre-dates the Environment Agency’s digital the EA’s hydrometric archive (WISKI database), consequently, some stations in the Hydrology Data Explorer have peak flow data that currently differ from that in the NRFA.