Water Framework Directive River Waterbodies

WFD RWB is a polyline shapefile dataset which is formed from a water flow routes dataset. Waterbodies are assigned types depending on their likely WFD status classification and physical and biological characteristics (typology).

This is in line with European Commission CIS guidance on delineation of waterbodies. Since each RWB is attributed with a unique identifier (EU_CD), this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources such as physical characteristics, risk, classification and other objectives. In some karst areas, this layer contains indicative underground flow connections between surface rivers.