River Catchment Boundaries for England, Scotland, and Wales in British National Grid 2023

2023 river catchment boundaries for England, Scotland, and Wales, derived from hydrological sections and aligned with Fish Health Inspectorate and SEPA catchments. The dataset provides complete coverage of waterbodies under the Water Framework Directive. It is published by the Government Digital Service.

Use Cases

• Model hydrological processes based on catchment boundaries.
• Assess water quality and ecological status for Water Framework Directive reporting based on waterbody coverage.
• Analyze fish health and disease spread using boundaries aligned with Fish Health Inspectorate areas.
• Integrate catchment data with other geospatial layers for environmental planning.

Strengths

• Boundaries are derived from hydrological sections, suggesting a systematic creation method.
• Includes complete coverage of Water Framework Directive waterbodies.
• Provides a version in the British National Grid projected coordinate system.

Limitations

• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Derived from hydrological sections and aligned with existing Fish Health Inspectorate and SEPA catchments.

Time Range

2023

Geography

England, Scotland, Wales