WFD Cycle 1 2016 Deteriorations: Water Body Status Changes in England

2016 data records Cycle 1 Water Framework Directive class deteriorations at the water body level for England only. The dataset assesses downgrades in class status from a 2009 baseline and includes statistical confidence and derived certainty metrics for each deterioration. It was created by the Environment Agency and is now retired, superseded by a newer record.

Use Cases

• Identify water bodies with statistically significant status declines based on confidence metrics.
• Analyze spatial patterns of water quality deterioration across England.
• Benchmark environmental performance against 2009 baseline statuses.
• Support regulatory reporting on Water Framework Directive compliance.

Strengths

• Includes statistical confidence and derived certainty for each detected deterioration, adding analytical rigor.
• Provides a clear temporal comparison against a defined 2009 baseline.

Limitations

• Dataset is retired and superseded, indicating it is not the current authoritative source.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, limiting suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to England-only coverage.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency

Collection Method

Assessed by detecting downgrades in class status in 2016 against the baseline status of 2009.

Time Range

Baseline 2009, assessment year 2016.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-17 15:07:55.803008; freshness should be verified as the record is retired.

Geography

England