WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
—— ft above typical
Finding the top signal on the water…
Live river level, flow, historical records and forecast for South River at Springdale Road, at Atlanta in GA, United States, built from official government gauge data.
South River at Springdale Road, at Atlanta is a gauged river in the Upper Ocmulgee watershed, Georgia.
This USGS station drains 2.4 sq mi (6.3 km2) upstream of the gauge, so the numbers here reflect a small part of the river rather than the full watershed. The record spans 19 years, which is enough to show a repeat pattern: levels are usually higher in November and lower in September.
For people living or fishing near the river, that means the reach is most likely to run fuller in the cool-season rain period and leaner late in the warm season between storms. The typical seasonal swing is 3.3 in (8.4 cm), so day-to-day shifts are often modest compared with the extremes.
The record high is 4.68 ft (1.43 m), set in November 2009. The record low is 2.14 ft (0.65 m), set in September 2024. Those two marks bracket what this gauge has seen so far, and they show that late-summer low water can sit a long way below the biggest rises on this river.
The seasonal high month is November at 2.87 ft (0.88 m), while the seasonal low month is September at 2.6 ft (0.79 m). That gap is small in absolute terms, but it still matters for shallow crossings, bank access, and any intake or dock sitting close to the waterline. In this part of Georgia, winter and spring rain usually do most of the work, and hurricane-season systems can drive the sharpest jumps.
The hero number on this page is the current reading set against the median for this calendar day across the station record. That is more useful than raw elevation because it answers the practical question: is the river running high or low for today, not just how many feet are in the channel.
With more than 19 years of record behind it, this comparison helps separate an ordinary seasonal level from an unusual one. USGS publishes the station data, and the daily median gives a cleaner read on current conditions than a single stage value by itself.
Readings come from official government gauges and are rolled into daily records: the daily mean, high and low for every day on record. Each calendar day gets its own baseline from the full history, so the level you see is compared against what this specific date usually looks like rather than an annual average.
Real-time water levels, forecasts, and alerts for lakes and rivers across Canada, the US and the UK. Built on official government data.
Nibi Metrics tracks more than 13,000 gauged lakes and rivers across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, reading directly from official federal monitoring networks: the Water Survey of Canada, the United States Geological Survey, Quebec's provincial hydrometric network, and the Environment Agency for England. Every number on the platform is measured, not modelled - taken from a government gauge on the water itself and compared against that location's own historical record for this exact date.
The level right now, in feet or metres, updated as the source agency publishes new readings - for many stations that is every five to fifteen minutes. How today compares to typical: every location carries its own typical-for-this-date band built from its historical record, so a reading is never just a number - it is above, below, or near what this water usually does on this calendar day. Which way it is moving: a measured RISING, FALLING, or STEADY verdict computed from the gauge's own recent readings, with the rate of change - the difference between a flood ending and one beginning. What comes next: level forecasts up to 72 hours ahead, driven by the gauge's recent behaviour, upstream water, and quantitative precipitation forecasts, alongside live radar, lightning, and weather for the surrounding region.
Set a threshold on any location - a level, a distance above typical, or a rate of climb - and Nibi emails or notifies you the moment the gauge crosses it. Cottagers use it for spring freshet, anglers for river conditions, marinas and municipalities for operations. The scanning runs around the clock against the same measured data shown on every page.
Nibi means water in Anishinaabemowin. The platform began at a family cottage on Lake Muskoka, Ontario, where the spring melt floods the shoreline most years and the only forecast was standing on the dock, looking, and guessing. It grew into an independent, member-funded platform run by Muskoka Research Inc. - no investors, no data resale, and a privacy policy shorter than most cookie banners. The core data is free for everyone, forever; paid plans add automation like multi-location alerts, deep history, and reports.
Nibi spans the continent: every Canadian province and territory with active federal gauges - from Vancouver Island rivers to the Muskoka lakes, prairie reservoirs, and Quebec's hydrometric network - and the United States from Maine to the Texas Hill Country, the Ohio Valley, and the Pacific Northwest. Coverage grows where the water news is: when a basin floods, its gauges join the platform with their full historical records attached. Many stations report every five to fifteen minutes; most report at least hourly; every page states exactly when its gauge last spoke.
The core promise is simple: the water data is free, for everyone, forever. Live levels, maps, radar, and recent history never sit behind a paywall. Paid plans fund the platform by adding automation - multi-location alerts, decades of history, longer forecasts, and PDF reports - so the people who need more carry the cost for everyone who just needs to check the lake before driving up. There are no investors and no advertising deals shaping what the data says.
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