Estimated width at water level

This parameter is part of the newly defined UK National Protocol as part of CaSTCo. This description is preliminary and will be updated shortly.

An estimate of the channel dimensions helps us to understand the rough size of the river or stream and the volume of water flowing on any given day. It is useful both for comparing information between different sites and for comparing results from a single site over time. It can be difficult to estimate distances accurately but don’t worry too much about being very precise, it is more important to be consistent if you can. If you are viewing from a bridge then you may be able to pace out the width. We want to know the channel width at the water level, with a sloping bank this will change as the water level moves up and down.