Historic GQA Headline Indicators of Water Courses - Nutrients - nitrate GQA grades 2010 (W

Wales maintained a full General Quality Assessment network until 2010 based on 800 sampling sites covering approximately 4700km of watercourses. The dataset grades nitrate concentrations in rivers and canals on a scale from 'Very low' to 'Very high', providing a consistent assessment of water quality. It was produced by the Environment Agency and represents the final year of the scheme in 2009.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial patterns of nitrate pollution across Welsh watercourses based on the 800 sampling sites.
• Assess historical water quality trends for nitrate using the graded scale from 'Very low' to 'Very high'.
• Compare nutrient concentrations in Welsh rivers relative to national baselines using the GQA classification scheme.

Strengths

• Based on a network of 800 sampling sites providing information for approximately 4700km of watercourses.
• Provides a consistent, graded assessment of nitrate concentrations on a defined scale from 1 to 6.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, requiring manual inspection after download.
• Data reflects a specific scheme that ended in 2009; freshness for current analysis should be verified.
• The description does not specify the exact data format or structure within the ZIP file.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency

Collection Method

General Quality Assessment Headline Indicator scheme sampling.

Time Range

Final year of the scheme is 2009.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-06 07:11:39.228319; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Wales