Northern Ireland Lake Water Bodies Under the Water Framework Directive

Northern Ireland lakes greater than 50 hectares are monitored under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to prevent deterioration in water quality and aquatic ecosystems. The dataset, reported to the EU from 2016, is provided by the Government Digital Service. It is available in multiple geospatial formats including KML, GeoJSON, and ESRI Shapefile.

Use Cases

• Map and analyze lake distribution and size based on the 50-hectare threshold mentioned in the description.
• Monitor changes in water quality and aquatic ecosystems as required by the Water Framework Directive.
• Support the implementation of a programme of measures to drive water quality improvements.
• Assess hydrological units for coherent water management planning.

Strengths

• Data is collected under a formal legislative framework (the Water Framework Directive).
• Available in multiple interoperable geospatial formats (KML, GeoJSON, ESRI Shapefile, CSV).
• Has a clear geographic scope (Northern Ireland) and size criterion (lakes > 50ha).

Limitations

• Row count is 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

Monitoring and assessment under Water Framework Directive legislation.

Time Range

Reporting from 2016 onwards.

Freshness

Data has been reported to the EU from 2016, but the last update date for this specific dataset is unknown.

Geography

Northern Ireland