Source Protection Zones (SPZ) Merged
Source Protection Zones [Merged] have been created as public facing boundaries where individual groundwater bodies within Source Protection Zones (SPZ) have been dissolved so only the outer boundaries are shown. SPZs are defined around large and public potable groundwater abstraction sites. The purpose of SPZs is to provide additional protection to safeguard drinking water quality through constraining the proximity of an activity that may impact upon a drinking water abstraction.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
- Constraints
- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS116230
- Alternative Title
-
- Parthau Diogelu Tarddiad Dŵr Cyfunedig
- AfA029 Source Protection Zones [Merged]
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
-
The following subdivisions are defined within SPZs:
- Zone 1: (Inner Protection Zone) - This zone is defined by a travel time of 50-days or less from any point within the zone at, or below, the water table. Additionally, the zone has as a minimum a 50-metre radius. It is based principally on biological decay criteria and is designed to protect against the transmission of toxic chemicals and water-borne disease.
- Zone 2: (Outer Protection Zone) - This zone is defined by the 400-day travel time from a point below the water table. Additionally this zone has a minimum radius of 250 or 500 metres, depending on the size of the abstraction. The travel time is derived from consideration of the minimum time required to provide delay, dilution and attenuation of slowly degrading pollutants.
- Zone 3: (Total catchment) - This zone is defined as the total area needed to support the abstraction or discharge from the protected groundwater source.
- A further Zone 4, or 'Zone of Special Interest' was previously defined for some groundwater sources. These zones highlighted areas (mainly on non-aquifers) where known local conditions meant that potentially polluting activities could impact on a groundwater source even though the area is outside the normal catchment of that source. In future this zone will be incorporated into one of the other zones (1, 2 or 3), whichever is appropriate in the particular case.
Large potable groundwater abstraction sites are georeferenced as Source Protection Locations. A groundwater flow model for relevant aquifer is run and classified into zones defined by travel time. Individual Source Protection Zones are merged and dissolved by Zone number stripping out SPZ name. This is for National Security reasons.
- Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
- 2026-05-14
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- Wales (WLS)
))
Distribution
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
-
-
Geographic Information System
(
Unknown
)
- Specification
-
ArcMap
-
Geographic Information System
(
Unknown
)
- Resource Locator
- Download Data & Web Services ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )
- Resource Locator
- Web Mapping Service ( OGC:WMS )
Quality
Data quality
- Quality Scope
- Dataset
- Conformity
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
- Explanation
-
This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
- Degree
- false
- Lineage
-
The following subdivisions are defined within SPZs:
- Zone 1: (Inner Protection Zone) - This zone is defined by a travel time of 50-days or less from any point within the zone at, or below, the water table. Additionally, the zone has as a minimum a 50-metre radius. It is based principally on biological decay criteria and is designed to protect against the transmission of toxic chemicals and water-borne disease.
- Zone 2: (Outer Protection Zone) - This zone is defined by the 400-day travel time from a point below the water table. Additionally this zone has a minimum radius of 250 or 500 metres, depending on the size of the abstraction. The travel time is derived from consideration of the minimum time required to provide delay, dilution and attenuation of slowly degrading pollutants.
- Zone 3: (Total catchment) - This zone is defined as the total area needed to support the abstraction or discharge from the protected groundwater source.
- A further Zone 4, or 'Zone of Special Interest' was previously defined for some groundwater sources. These zones highlighted areas (mainly on non-aquifers) where known local conditions meant that potentially polluting activities could impact on a groundwater source even though the area is outside the normal catchment of that source. In future this zone will be incorporated into one of the other zones (1, 2 or 3), whichever is appropriate in the particular case.
Large potable groundwater abstraction sites are georeferenced as Source Protection Locations. A groundwater flow model for relevant aquifer is run and classified into zones defined by travel time. Individual Source Protection Zones are merged and dissolved by Zone number stripping out SPZ name. This is for National Security reasons.
Keywords
Keywords
Keywords
-
NRW Thesaurus
-
- groundwater
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2026-03-04
Keywords
-
NRW SMNR Keywords
-
- Provisioning Services (SMNR)
- Regulating Services (SMNR)
- Cultural Services (SMNR)
- Hydrological Processes (SMNR)
- Water Resources (SMNR)
- Natural Resources (Incl. Features and Processes) (SMNR)
- Water Quality (SMNR)
- Ecosystem Services (SMNR)
- Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR)
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2024-06-26
Spatial Reference System
Content
Content Information
NRW Profile
Custom Elements
Constraints
Constraints
Limitations on Public Access and Use
- Restriction type
- Other restrictions
Access Constraints Directive
- Limitations
- no limitations
Access Constraints Text
- Other constraints
-
There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.
Use Constraints
- Use constraints type
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
-
© CNC/NRW. Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.
Attribution Statement
- Other constraints
-
Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved.
Licence
- Other constraints
- Open Government Licence
Metadata
Metadata
- File Identifier
- 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313136323330 XML
- Metadata Language
- English
- Resource type
- Dataset
- Metadata Date
- 2026-05-18T09:52:53.069Z
- Metadata Standard Name
- NRW
- Metadata Standard Version
-
1.0