Pen Branch at Columbia, SC Water Level Today

NWS river forecast

Forecast from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service. Issued a few times a day and only while a forecast is active. Not for navigation.

Last 30 days

About this gauge

USGS gauge 02169568 sits on Pen Branch and reads everything draining 2.3 square miles of the Congaree basin. Its datum sits 176 feet above sea level NAVD88.

Where this gauge sits in the drainage

No gauged site sits above this one on the mainstem, so this is the first published reading on the river. Downstream the next reading comes from Gills Creek below Lake Katherine Spillway Columbia, SC at 53 square miles, so what passes this gauge is about 4% of the water measured there. Water passing here goes on to Gills Creek at Columbia, SC, Gills Creek at SC 48, near Columbia, SC and Congaree River at Congaree Np near Gadsden, SC.

Flood stages and record crests

The highest crest on record is 8.1 feet, in September 2024.

Flood categories and crest history from the NOAA National Water Prediction Service, gauge PBRS1. Stages are gage height, not depth. Not for navigation.