Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive

WFD CIS Guidance Document No.9
Implementing the Geographical Information Systems (GIS) of the Water Framework Directive
3.2.1 Basic Information
The basic information contains those entities for which the WFD applies. These are the
surface water bodies, the groundwater bodies and the protected areas. Furthermore the river
basin districts, the river basins and the areas of competent authorities are regarded as basic
information.
For the co-ordination of administrative arrangements within river basin districts, and the
arrangements within and between Member States, the boundaries of the river basin districts
and the competent authorities have to be reported (maps No. 1 and No. 2). The following
GIS-layers are required:
�� River basin districts: The geographical coverage of the river basin district presented as
a polygon layer. In cases where the national border is the same as the district border,
the national border is leading;
�� River basins and sub-basins: A polygon layer with the main catchment areas within
the river basin district. All the basins and sub-basins taken together fully cover the
river basin district. The basins and sub-basins are derived from the hydrological
system, whereas the river basin district is designated as the main unit for the
management of river basins. While this layer is non-mandatory it provides the basic
entities for the river basin management and its delivery is recommended;
�� Main rivers: A selection from the dataset with surface water bodies, used for general
overview purposes;
�� Areas covered by the competent authorities within the river basin district: A polygon
layer with no overlapping features and without uncovered areas and if necessary
synchronised with the national border layer and the river basin district layer.
The attributes of these GIS-layers are specified in the description of the data model (see
Section 3.3) and in the data dictionary in appendix III.
The environmental objectives of the WFD cover all water bodies as well as areas designated
as requiring special protection of their surface and groundwater bodies or for the conservation
of habitats and species depending on water. The reporting obligations, therefore, require a
general description of the characteristics of the river basin district, including information on
surface water bodies, groundwater bodies and all protected areas (maps No. 3, 4, 5, and 11).
The requested level of detail of the GIS-layers for surface water bodies and groundwater
bodies is based on the essential discussion about the term water body. The outcome of this
discussion, presented in the Horizontal Guidance on the Application of the Term Water Body,
defines which elements should be included in the layer. In the following list we describe the
composition of the various layers.
�� Surface Water Bodies: Surface water bodies are first discriminated into the following
categories: rivers, lakes, transitional waters, coastal waters, artificial surface water bodies,
and heavily modified surface water bodies. Within each category discrimination is made
based on type (according to system A or B). Rivers are represented as line features and
lakes, transitional waters or coastal waters as polygons.
�� Groundwater Bodies: Groundwater bodies are presented as polygon features. The
outcome of the Working Group on Groundwater determines the characterisation of the
groundwater bodies.
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