River Water Body Catchments with 2019 WFD Classification

Environment Agency polygon data for Water Framework Directive (WFD) River Water Body Catchments and associated coastal drainage areas. The dataset includes attribution from the 2019 classification cycle and has been geometrically simplified for web mapping. It was created using hydrological models based on EA LiDAR data and the Detailed River Network.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial relationships between 'water_body_type' (e.g., River Water Body, Coastal Catchment) and associated land areas for pollution source tracing.
• Map and assess the 2019 WFD classification results attributed to each catchment polygon to identify regions of environmental concern.
• Use the 'water_body_id' field to join catchment data with other WFD datasets for integrated water resource management.

Strengths

• Includes both defined river water body catchments and coastal catchments draining directly to the sea.
• Geometry is simplified from a higher-resolution source, enabling faster visualization and analysis.
• Contains specific attribution for the WFD Cycle 3 classification from 2019.

Limitations

• Geometric simplification reduces spatial accuracy compared to the full-resolution version.
• The shapefile format has noted limitations which may affect data interoperability.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a snapshot from the 2019 classification cycle.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency (UK).

Collection Method

Created using hydrological models based on EA LiDAR data and the Detailed River Network.

Time Range

Classification data is for Cycle 3, 2019.

Freshness

Dataset metadata was last updated in April 2026, but the classification data is from 2019.

Geography

Catchments and coastal drainage areas in England and Wales, as defined by the WFD.