UK Coastal and Estuarine Water Quality Classifications for 2022

Polygon data shows the 2022 ecological and chemical status classifications for UK transitional and coastal water bodies under the Water Framework Directive. The dataset was created by the UK Environment Agency for Cycle 3 of the WFD. It includes water bodies defined from OS OpenMap and Environment Agency boundaries.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial patterns in ecological_status or ecological_potential across estuaries and coastal regions.
• Compare chemical_status classifications between different River Basin Districts.
• Map the boundaries of defined transitional water bodies against Mean High Water coastline data.
• Assess water quality trends by joining classification attributes with temporal data from other WFD cycles.

Strengths

• Provides separate layer files for chemical and ecological status classifications.
• Based on authoritative sources including OS OpenMap and Environment Agency boundaries.
• Applies to the full third assessment cycle of the Water Framework Directive.

Limitations

• Specific row counts and geographic extent are not provided in the description.
• The shapefile format is noted to have inherent limitations.
• Data is specific to the 2022 classification year, limiting temporal analysis without other cycles.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency (UK), containing Ordnance Survey data.

Collection Method

Water bodies defined from OS OpenMap - Local Mean High Water boundaries and pre-defined estuarine boundaries.

Time Range

2022 classification cycle (Cycle 3).

Freshness

Last updated in April 2026, but the classification data is for the 2022 reporting cycle.

Geography

Transitional and coastal waters of the United Kingdom, split by River Basin Districts.