Nibi Metrics turns raw gauge readings from official hydrometric networks into something a person standing on a dock can actually use: is the water high or low for today, which way is it moving, and how unusual is this? This page explains where every number on the platform comes from and what we do to it along the way.
Every reading on Nibi Metrics originates from a public, government-operated monitoring network:
Water Survey of Canada (WSC). The federal hydrometric network, operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada, provides real-time water levels and discharge for stations across every province and territory. WSC data is the backbone of our Canadian coverage.
CEHQ (Quebec). The Direction de l'expertise hydrique du Québec operates an extensive provincial network. We integrate CEHQ stations alongside WSC coverage in Quebec, published under Quebec's open-data license (CC-BY 4.0).
Office of Public Works (Ireland). Irish river and lake levels come from the OPW hydrometric network, published on waterlevel.ie. 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.) The OPW provides this data on a best-efforts basis and does not guarantee continuity of service.
Environment Agency (England). River levels and flows for England come from the Environment Agency's real-time flood-monitoring service. This uses Environment Agency flood and river level data from the real-time data API (Beta), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). Scottish levels and flows come from SEPA's hydrometric network. Contains SEPA data © Scottish Environment Protection Agency and database right 2026. All rights reserved. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Welsh levels and flows come from NRW's river level network. Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). Norwegian river and lake levels, flow and water temperature come from the Hydrological API of NVE (hydapi.nve.no). Contains data under the Norwegian licence for Open Government data (NLOD) distributed by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
State of Queensland (Water Monitoring Information Portal). Queensland river, weir and dam levels, flow and water temperature come from the Queensland Government’s Water Monitoring Information Portal, run by the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers. © State of Queensland (Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
State of Victoria (Water Measurement Information System). Victorian river levels and flows, and the levels of its lakes, inlets and storages, come from the Victorian Government’s Water Measurement Information System, run by the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. © State of Victoria (Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
State of South Australia (Water Data SA). South Australian river levels and flows, and the levels of its lakes, wetlands and the River Murray’s weir pools, come from Water Data SA, run by the Department for Environment and Water. © Crown in right of the State of South Australia (Department for Environment and Water), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
Northern Territory Government (NT Water Data Portal). Northern Territory river levels and flows, and the levels of its billabongs, lagoons and reservoirs, come from the NT Water Data Portal, run by the Water Resources Division of the Department of Lands, Planning and Environment. © Northern Territory Government (Department of Lands, Planning and Environment), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
State of Western Australia (Department of Water and Environmental Regulation). Western Australian river levels, and the levels of its lakes and inlets, are sourced from the Water Information Reporting tool (WIR) <wir.water.wa.gov.au>, read every hour; Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Perth, Western Australia. A river level is measured above the gauge's cease-to-flow point: below zero, the river has stopped running at the gauge. The daily history comes from the same records through the Bureau of Meteorology's Water Data Online. Copyright in the information is owned by the State of Western Australia, which licenses it under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (disclaimer and copyright); the State does not endorse Nibi Metrics. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are based on content from WIR, worked out by Nibi Metrics.
French State hydrometric network (Hub'Eau Hydrometrie). French river levels and flows, and the levels of its lakes and reservoirs, come from the State's hydrometric network (the PHyC of the Service central Vigicrues; each station has its own page on HydroPortail), read every hour through Hub'Eau, the public water-data service run by the OFB and the BRGM. A height is measured above the station's zero. The daily history (the day's mean flow and the day's highest height) comes from the same network through Hub'Eau. Reused under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): the source and the time of every reading are shown on each page. The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics; the French State does not endorse Nibi Metrics.
German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (PEGELONLINE). German river and canal levels, the levels of the lakes on the federal waterways and, where a gauge measures them, flows come from the gauges of the Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), read every hour through PEGELONLINE, its public gauge service. A level is measured above the gauge's zero (at a few gauges, above sea level). PEGELONLINE keeps the last 31 days of readings: a German page's history starts with those days and grows from Nibi's own hourly readings. Gauges on the tidal coast and in the estuaries are not shown as river pages. Data: Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung des Bundes (WSV), under the Datenlizenz Deutschland – Zero – Version 2.0. Each German page names its state (Land), placed with the boundaries of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy: © GeoBasis-DE / BKG 2018 (Daten verändert). The comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics; the WSV does not endorse Nibi Metrics.
Parks Canada, Trent-Severn Waterway. Water levels on the Trent-Severn Waterway come from Parks Canada’s water-level information for the waterway. Each reading is measured by Parks Canada staff at about 6:00 a.m. and published manually once a day on weekdays: it is not real-time data and not a daily average. This information is not intended for flood warning or flood forecasting, so these pages carry no Nibi forecast; for official notices, see Parks Canada. Used under the Parks Canada terms and conditions. The typical level on these pages is Parks Canada’s own long-term average for the date; the comparison with it is worked out by Nibi Metrics.
Canadian Hydrographic Service (Fisheries and Oceans Canada). Great Lakes, Georgian Bay and St. Lawrence River levels on the Canadian shore come from the Canadian Hydrographic Service’s water level network (the Integrated Water Level System), read every hour. Levels are given in metres on the International Great Lakes Datum of 1985 (IGLD 1985), the height system the two countries share for the lakes. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Where the Service’s own archive is short, the typical level for the day and the records of a Canadian lake gauge come from the lake’s long record at NOAA’s master gauge on the same lake (Lake Huron at Harbor Beach, Michigan, since 1900, for Georgian Bay), and the page says so.
NOAA CO-OPS (National Ocean Service). Great Lakes levels on the American shore, with the water temperature where it is measured, come from NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, read every hour; the daily means since 1900 are the agency’s verified record. Levels in metres IGLD 1985. NOAA data are in the public domain (NOAA open data); the comparison with typical, the rate of change and the forecast are worked out by Nibi Metrics from that data.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Our American coverage is built on the USGS National Water Information System — the same public-domain network relied on by emergency managers across the United States. USGS gauges report water level (gage height) and streamflow (discharge), typically every 15 minutes.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) GeoMet. Weather layers — radar, precipitation, and snow water equivalent — come from ECCC's GeoMet services, including the HRDPS high-resolution forecast model.
NOAA / National Weather Service. For U.S. locations, weather conditions and forecasts come from api.weather.gov.
Met Office (UK weather). Weather forecasts for locations in England, Scotland and Wales come from the Met Office Weather DataHub (Global Spot). Powered by Met Office data.
MET Norway (weather for Norway, Australia, France and Germany). Weather forecasts for locations in Norway, Australia, France and Germany come from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, through its open weather service at api.met.no, which forecasts for the whole world. Based on data from MET Norway, licensed under the Norwegian Licence for Open Government Data (NLOD) 2.0 and Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Nibi converts the units and works out the high and the low of each day from the forecast.
Official sources. Every figure can be checked against the agency that published it: Water Survey of Canada, Quebec CEHQ, U.S. Geological Survey, Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Natural Resources Wales, Office of Public Works, Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate, State of Queensland, State of Victoria, State of South Australia, Northern Territory Government, State of Western Australia, French State (Hub'Eau), German Federal Waterways (PEGELONLINE), Parks Canada (Trent-Severn Waterway), Canadian Hydrographic Service, NOAA CO-OPS, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the National Weather Service, the Met Office and MET Norway. Each location page links to the agency behind its readings.
Nibi Metrics is independent. It is not a government service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for any government agency. It displays data those agencies publish; official forecasts and warnings come from them.
We do not generate readings ourselves (with the exception of our own Nibi sensor hardware, which is always clearly labelled as a sensor source). If a number appears on a location page, it traces back to one of the networks above, and the source is named on the page.
The Live view on a location page shows the newest picture from a public camera near the water. Each picture carries its source’s credit, and the camera’s label links to the source’s own page. A camera at a USGS gauge shows on that gauge’s page by itself, and so does a city camera on a road beside a river that goes under when the river floods (the lower Don Valley Parkway on the Don River’s page in Toronto); any other camera shows only after we have looked at it. The pictures come from:
U.S. Geological Survey (HIVIS). Cameras at USGS gauges, from the USGS Hydrologic Imagery Visualization and Information System. Public domain.
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). Cameras on GLERL’s Great Lakes stations: NOAA public information, credited to NOAA GLERL. GLERL provides the images as is; they are to be used for entertainment and not as safety measures (GLERL’s disclaimer).
National Park Service. Webcams the parks run themselves; cameras run by park partners are not shown. Public domain.
Caltrans. California Department of Transportation highway cameras, credited to Caltrans.
Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). WSDOT’s own highway cameras, credited to WSDOT.
DriveNC (North Carolina Department of Transportation). North Carolina’s highway cameras, credited to NCDOT / DriveNC.gov.
NVroads (Nevada Department of Transportation). Nevada’s highway cameras, credited to NDOT / NVroads.
511LA (Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development). Louisiana’s highway cameras, credited to Louisiana DOTD / 511LA.
511GA (Georgia Department of Transportation). Georgia’s highway cameras, credited to GDOT / 511GA.
AZ511 (Arizona Department of Transportation). Arizona’s highway cameras, credited to ADOT / AZ511.
UDOT Traffic (Utah Department of Transportation). Utah’s highway cameras, credited to UDOT.
511WI (Wisconsin Department of Transportation). Wisconsin’s highway cameras, credited to WisDOT / 511WI.
511SC (South Carolina Department of Transportation). South Carolina’s highway cameras, credited to SCDOT / 511SC.
GoKY (Kentucky Transportation Cabinet). Kentucky’s highway cameras from the Cabinet’s public camera layer, credited to KYTC / GoKY; the cameras the layer carries on the Indiana side of the Ohio River are INDOT’s, credited to INDOT TrafficWise.
City of Austin. The City’s traffic cameras, from its open data portal, credited to the City of Austin, Texas – data.austintexas.gov. Public domain.
Flood areas. Some roads have gone under before: the Outer Banks highway in a nor’easter, a low-water crossing in a flash flood, an underpass beside a river. A camera on one of those roads is marked as a flood area, and it can show on the nearest page up to 25 km away, because it shows what the water does where people drive.
DriveBC. British Columbia highway cameras, credited to DriveBC, and to a camera’s owner where DriveBC names one. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
Ontario 511. Ontario’s traveller information cameras, credited to Ontario 511; a City of Toronto or York Region camera names its owner too. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
511 Alberta. Alberta’s highway cameras, credited to 511 Alberta; a City of Calgary camera names the City too.
Manitoba 511. Manitoba’s highway cameras, credited to Manitoba 511.
511 Newfoundland and Labrador. The province’s highway cameras, shown with a key the province issued to Nibi Metrics and credited to 511 Newfoundland and Labrador.
New Brunswick 511. New Brunswick’s highway cameras, shown with a key the province issued to Nibi Metrics and credited to New Brunswick 511.
QLDTraffic. Queensland’s traffic cameras and its flood cameras at creek and river crossings, from the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ API, credited to the Queensland Government. © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads), licensed under CC BY 4.0 AU. No pictures are kept.
USGS CoastCam. The U.S. Geological Survey’s beach cameras at Santa Cruz and Sunset State Beach, California, in the public domain and credited to USGS CoastCam.
TfL JamCams. Transport for London’s traffic cameras, including those at the Thames bridges and embankments, under TfL’s open data licence. Powered by TfL Open Data.
City of Toronto. The City’s traffic cameras, credited to the City of Toronto. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Toronto. The City may switch a camera off during an emergency.
Canadian Coast Guard. The Coast Guard’s ice monitoring cameras on the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes channels and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, shown with the Coast Guard’s permission and credited to it. The Coast Guard runs these cameras for its own operations and offers the pictures to the public as a courtesy, for information only.
Statens vegvesen. Norway’s road cameras, from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s DATEX II feed through an account issued to Nibi Metrics, credited to Statens vegvesen. Contains data under the Norwegian Licence for Open Government Data (NLOD) 2.0, distributed by Statens vegvesen.
The pictures belong to their sources, and the Live view shows each one as its source publishes it. When a flood event is recorded, copies are kept only from sources whose terms allow it. A picture is a view, not a measurement: the levels on a page come from the gauges named above, and warnings come from the agencies that issue them.
Storm Watch. Storm Watch shows the public cameras inside the weather warnings in force now, with or without a gauge nearby: the warnings of the National Weather Service and of Environment and Climate Change Canada, of the kinds a camera can show (flooding, storm surge, high surf, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, severe thunderstorms and high winds). A camera is inside a warning when it stands in the warning’s own area, or in a forecast zone or county the warning names. Every picture carries its source’s credit, and every warning links to the agency’s own page for the place: Nibi informs; the agencies warn.
Everything is stored in SI units. Feet become metres at ingest (×0.3048); cubic feet per second become cubic metres per second (×0.0283). Your display preference — feet or metres — is applied only at the last moment, on your screen. This means a Canadian gauge and a Texan gauge live in the same mathematical world and can be compared honestly.
We build daily records. Agencies publish readings every few minutes to every hour. We roll these into daily summaries per station — the daily mean, high, and low — which become the raw material for everything historical. For USGS stations this is genuinely additive work: the USGS publishes daily-mean discharge but not daily-mean gage height, so our daily level records are computed by us from the full instantaneous archive.
We compute a baseline for every calendar day. For each station, we take every July 23rd (for example) in the historical record and compute the median and percentile distribution of that day's levels. That per-day baseline — not a single annual average — is what "typical" means on Nibi Metrics. A lake is compared against what this specific date usually looks like, which is the only comparison that makes sense for water that swells every spring and recedes every summer.
Deviation is the hero number. The big number on a location page is the difference between the current reading and the median for today's date. "+2.1 ft above typical" carries meaning that a raw elevation like "223.94 m" never could. Percentile bands (normal, watch, high, low) come from the same per-day distributions.
Records are computed from complete daily records. "All-time high" on a Records & Range card is the highest completed daily record in the station's archive. During a live flood, today's reading can exceed it — the page will tell you a new record is being set, because the archive can only contain finished days.
Rate of change is measured, not modelled. The RISING / FALLING / STEADY verdict compares recent successive readings from the gauge itself. When the water is confirmed flat, we say steady — a measured zero, not an absence of data.
Our water-level forecast (Model v0.9) is our own statistical model. It combines the station's recent trajectory, its historical behavior for the season, and forecast precipitation from HRDPS. It is honest about itself: every forecast card carries a confidence label, and low-confidence forecasts say so. Forecasts are guidance, not guarantees — during rapidly evolving floods, always follow official emergency information.
Weather alerts shown on Nibi Metrics are official ECCC public alerts, refreshed continuously and matched to locations geographically. We display summaries and link to the full official advisories. User-configured water-level alerts are evaluated against the same readings and baselines described above.
We don't smooth, adjust, or "correct" agency readings. We don't interpolate missing data and present it as measured. When a gauge goes quiet, the page says so — a stale badge appears rather than a silently frozen number. And when our own model is uncertain, the label says that too.
The data pipeline is the product, and we're glad to explain any part of it. Reach out through the contact page — if something on a location page doesn't make sense, that's a bug in our explanation even when the number is right.