Water Framework Directive River and Canal Classifications for 2022

River, canal, and surface water transfer centerlines in England and Wales are classified for ecological and chemical status under the EU Water Framework Directive. The dataset, created by the UK Environment Agency, contains attribution from the 2022 classification results for Cycle 3 of the program. Geometry is simplified from the EA Detailed River Network for faster web mapping.

Use Cases

• Map ecological class or potential for rivers using the 'Simplified_WFD_River_Canal_and_SWT_Water_Bodies_Cycle_3_Classification_2022_Ecological_Class' layer.
• Analyze chemical class distributions for canals and surface water transfers identified by the 'water_body_type' field.
• Join other Water Framework Directive datasets using the unique 'water_body_id' field as a key.
• Compare water body status between natural rivers and artificial systems like 'Canals' or 'Surface Water Transfers'.

Strengths

• Data is officially defined for regulatory reporting under the EU Water Framework Directive.
• Includes two distinct classification layers for ecological and chemical status.
• Geometry is simplified for performance, with a full-resolution version available.

Limitations

• Data format limitations are noted for the provided shapefile.
• Sample size and total row count are unknown.
• The dataset is a simplified version, which may reduce spatial precision for detailed analysis.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency (UK), using geometry from the EA Detailed River Network with Ordnance Survey data.

Collection Method

Polyline centerlines derived from official river water body definitions for regulatory reporting.

Time Range

Classification results are for 2022, under WFD Cycle 3.

Freshness

Contains 2022 classification results; metadata was last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Covers river, canal, and surface water transfer water bodies in England and Wales.