Compliance Assessment of Welsh River Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Against Water Quality Targets (2020 - 2023)
These data identify the compliance of Welsh river Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) regarding targets for eight water quality attributes: Phosphorus, Dissolved Oxygen, Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Total Ammonia, Unionised Ammonia, Trophic Diatom Index, pH and Acid Neutralising Capacity.
The targets and methods of assessment are set at a UK level by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee as published in the Common Standards Guidance for Rivers 2016, and form part of the conservation objectives for the riverine SAC features.
There are nine SACs in Wales with riverine features (known in their respective Core Management Plans as):
• River Dee and Bala Lake
• Afon Gwyrfai a Llyn Cwellyn
• Coedydd Derw a Safleoedd Ystlumod Meirion (Afon Glaslyn)
• Afon Eden - Cors Goch Trawsfynydd
• Afon Teifi
• Afonydd Cleddau
• Afon Tywi
• River Usk
• River Wye
For the purposes of water quality reporting, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) divides rivers into units called water bodies. A total of 119 (of a possible 127) water bodies, each with a single sampling point, were assessed for one or more attribute. The River Dee and Wye were assessed in the Welsh part of the SAC only.
Water quality data collected by NRW’s routine surveillance monitoring programme for a four-year period (1st January 2020 – 31st December 2023) were extracted from the NRW water quality database (KiWQM) to assess compliance with targets.
Data was not available for all attributes for all water bodies due to the risk-based design of NRW’s monitoring programmes. For attributes/waterbodies with insufficient data to determine compliance over the period 2020-2023, but where a result was produced in the previous assessment (using 2017-2019 data), the previous result has been rolled forward.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
- Constraints
- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS161343
- Alternative Title
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- Acid Neutralising Capacity.lyr
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand.lyr
- Dissolved Oxygen.lyr
- pH.lyr
- Phosphorous.lyr
- Phosphorous Total Ammonia.lyr
- Phosphorous Trophic Diatom Index.lyr
- Phosphorous Unionised Ammonia.lyr
- Wye nutrient neutrality for Phosphorous catchments upstream of failing waterbody.lyr
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
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All data was subject to robust quality assurance processes. Data collection and analysis methodologies were undertaken in line with NRW’s standard guidance. Full methods are presented in the accompanying report.
- Dataset Reference Date (Creation)
- 2025-02-21
- Dataset Reference Date (Publication)
- 2025-10-09
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- Wales (WLS)
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Distribution
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
-
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Geographic Information System
(
Unknown
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Geographic Information System
(
Unknown
)
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Geographic Information System
(
Unknown
)
- Resource Locator
- Download Data & Web Services ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )
- Resource Locator
- Web Mapping Service ( OGC:WMS )
- Resource Locator
- View Data ( WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link )
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
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This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
- Degree
- false
- Lineage
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All data was subject to robust quality assurance processes. Data collection and analysis methodologies were undertaken in line with NRW’s standard guidance. Full methods are presented in the accompanying report.
Keywords
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-01
Keywords
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NRW Thesaurus
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- Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) - SAC monitoring
- Water Quality Assessment
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2026-03-04
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
- noLimitations
Access Constraints Text
- Other constraints
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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
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© CNC/NRW All rights Reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444. Crown Copyright and Database Right Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and copyright of the owners. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.
Attribution Statement
- Other constraints
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Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains Ordnance Survey Data. Ordnance Survey Licence number AC0000849444. Crown Copyright and Database Right.
Licence
- Other constraints
- Open Government Licence