Surface Drinking Water Protected Areas: Northern Ireland River Bodies

450 river water bodies in Northern Ireland were designated as Surface Drinking Water Protected Areas in 2016 under the Water Framework Directive. This geospatial dataset, created with input from Northern Ireland Water, represents a static regulatory layer with no planned updates. It supports national legislation transposed from the EU directive and amended post-EU Exit.

Use Cases

• Regulatory compliance mapping based on the designated protected area boundaries.
• Water source risk assessment using the 2016 river water body inventory.
• Policy analysis referencing the legal framework established by the Water Environment Regulations.
• Infrastructure planning by Northern Ireland Water using the agreed-upon source areas.

Strengths

• Based on a specific inventory of 450 river water bodies.
• Created with formal input and agreement from the regional water authority, Northern Ireland Water.
• Legally defined under national legislation transposing the EU Water Framework Directive.

Limitations

• The dataset is static; the description explicitly states there are no plans to update it.
• Column names and precise data structure are unknown from the provided metadata.
• Row counts and file sizes are not provided, limiting an assessment of granularity.

Provenance

Source

OpenDataNI / Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) / Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA)

Collection Method

Created from the 2016 updated river water bodies with input and agreement from Northern Ireland Water.

Time Range

2016 (2nd Cycle designation)

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-15 according to one platform, but the core data is from the 2016 2nd Cycle.

Geography

Northern Ireland