This is a polygon dataset showing Surface Water Operational Catchments, created to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Operational Catchments are larger than catchments associated with water bodies, but they are smaller than Management Catchments. They contain multiple water bodies.
Operational Catchments are a way of grouping WFD Water Bodies together for the purposes of economic appraisal. Every water body has been assigned to an Operational Catchment. They are not always hydrologically correct catchments as the river water bodies may have been grouped based on pressures and measures than hydrology. The Surface Water Operational Catchments dataset also extends to cover Transitional and Coastal Water Bodies. It excludes the underlying groundwater, and linear artificial waters which are published separately.
Created using hydrological models based on EA LiDAR data informed with the Detailed River Network which has residual Ordnance Survey rights.
There is a layer file associated with this dataset which is called WFD_Surface_Water_Operational_Catchments_Cycle_4.lyrx. Please note that there are limitations with the shapefile format of the data. The data applies to Cycle 4 of the WFD. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved.
