WFD River Water Bodies: Hydrological Units for Northern Ireland

571 water bodies were identified in Northern Ireland for the 2nd regulatory cycle (2016-2021), including 450 rivers, 21 lakes, 25 transitional and coastal waters, and 75 groundwater bodies. This dataset provides the geospatial boundaries for river water bodies, defined as hydrological units for monitoring under the Water Framework Directive. It represents a 2016 revision of the 2009 baseline, with no future revisions planned.

Use Cases

• Assessing compliance with Water Framework Directive environmental objectives based on defined water body units.
• Planning water quality monitoring programs for 450 specific river segments.
• Analyzing hydrological connectivity and catchment management for surface water flow units.
• Reporting on the status of water bodies for the 2016-2021 regulatory cycle.

Strengths

• Provides a specific, legislatively-defined inventory of 571 water bodies for a complete regulatory cycle.
• Based on a 2016 revision of hydrological units, offering an updated spatial framework.
• Cross-platform presence on UK and EU open data portals indicates official status and reliability.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed attribute data are not provided in the available metadata.
• The dataset is static, representing the 2nd cycle (2016-2021) with no planned future revisions, limiting temporal applicability.
• Conflicting metadata exists: one source lists a last update date of 2026-04-15, which is inconsistent with the described static 2016 revision.

Provenance

Source

Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), Northern Ireland, via Government Digital Service.

Collection Method

Likely derived from official hydrological modeling and regulatory reporting for the Water Framework Directive.

Time Range

2016-2021 (2nd regulatory cycle)

Freshness

Last updated metadata indicates 2026-04-15, but the core data represents the 2016 2nd cycle revision.

Geography

Northern Ireland