WFD SSSI Ditches: Drainage Ditches in UK Protected Sites

Drainage Ditches in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) were extracted from Natural England's dataset. Each water body has a unique 'EA_WB_ID' enabling linkage to Water Framework Directive attributes. Environment Agency and Natural England hold the copyright, with data last updated on 2026-07-06.

Use Cases

• Map the distribution of species-rich ditch systems based on SSSI designation criteria.
• Link ditch features to Water Framework Directive attributes using the unique EA_WB_ID field.
• Analyze the overlap between protected site boundaries and specific aquatic habitat types.
• Support conservation status assessments for sites designated due to rare species presence.

Strengths

• Each water body has a unique identifier (EA_WB_ID) for linking to external WFD attributes.
• Data originates from authoritative sources: Environment Agency and Natural England.
• A specific update timestamp (2026-07-06) is provided.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The description notes SSSI Ditches were not reported in the subsequent Water Framework Directive Cycle 2.

Provenance

Source

Environment Agency and Natural England

Collection Method

Extracted from Natural England's SSSI dataset.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-06 07:20:52.639952

Geography

United Kingdom (specifically Sites of Special Scientific Interest)