WFD Status: Northern Ireland Surface Water Bodies 2016

The dataset contains classification statuses for surface water bodies in Northern Ireland, reported in 2016 under the Water Framework Directive. It includes statuses for rivers, lakes, coastal, and transitional waters, as well as the 2021 objectives from the second cycle River Basin Plans. The data supports a six-year cycle of monitoring and action defined by the Water Environment Regulations.

Use Cases

• Monitoring compliance with Water Framework Directive objectives based on reported classification statuses.
• Analyzing trends in water quality for rivers, lakes, and coastal areas based on the 2016 status data.
• Planning environmental improvement actions based on the six-year monitoring cycle described in the regulations.
• Comparing reported 2016 statuses with interim 2018 updates referenced in the linked report.

Strengths

• Data is tied to a specific regulatory reporting cycle (2016) and includes future objectives (2021).
• Coverage includes multiple types of surface water bodies: rivers, lakes, coastal, and transitional.
• Cross-platform presence on eu_open_data and uk_data suggests official importance and accessibility.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are unknown, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Metadata for size, row count, and author is missing or inconsistent across entries.
• The description references an interim 2018 update, but the core dataset's temporal coverage is fixed to 2016.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service (as listed on one platform entry)

Collection Method

Submitted as part of official Water Framework Directive reporting.

Time Range

2016 (primary reporting year), with references to 2021 objectives and an interim 2018 update.

Freshness

2026-04-15 14:20:34.633097

Geography

Northern Ireland