Summary

Description

WFD Coastal Waterbodies 1st Cycle is a polygon Shapefile dataset defining coastal waterbodies for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Article 2 clause 7 of the WFD defines coastal waterbodies as 'a surface water on the landward side of a line every point of which is at a distance of one nautical mile on the seaward side from the nearest point of the baseline from which the breadth of territorial waters is measured extending where appropriate up to the outer limit of transitional waters'. Coastal waters were defined by territorial waters 1 nautical mile from the Mean High Water and the coastline taken directly from OS 1:50K MeridianTM 2. The break between coastal and estuarine waters was delineated by the Environment Agency defined transitional waterbodies. Since waterbodies are attributed with a unique identifier (EA_WB_ID) this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources such as physical characteristics risk classification and proposed objectives.