WFD Catchment Management Information England - Water Body Classifications Cycle 2

England's water body classifications under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) for Cycle 2, managed by the Environment Agency. The dataset includes classifications at various levels for various years, covering water bodies that cross into England from Wales. It has been retired and superseded by a newer record as of the provided metadata.

Use Cases

• Assessing water body status based on WFD classifications mentioned in the description
• Tracking environmental targets for water quality based on the described 'Water Body Outcomes'
• Identifying reasons for water quality failure based on the described 'Reasons for Failure' categories
• Planning catchment management actions based on the described 'Actions and Measures'

Strengths

• Managed by the authoritative Environment Agency, as stated in the attribution.
• Explicitly includes cross-border water body information for sites from Wales that enter England.
• Part of a structured series of related datasets (AfA295, AfA296, etc.) for integrated catchment management.

Limitations

• The dataset is explicitly noted as retired and superseded, indicating it is not the current version.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency

Collection Method

Likely contains official administrative classifications and monitoring data for the Water Framework Directive.

Time Range

Covers 'Cycle 2' of WFD classifications, but specific years are not detailed.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-17 15:07:40.326149; freshness should be verified as the dataset is retired.

Geography

England, including water bodies that cross the border from Wales.