River and lake monitoring sites used for The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 classification purposes. The Water (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 ensures that the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (as transposed) and the various supporting pieces of water legislation are implemented in Northern Ireland. The legislation defines 6 year cycles of monitoring and action to improve or maintain environmental water quality standards.The Attribute table includes the years a site was used for classification purposes. This layer updates previous versions based on the 2nd cycle 2016 submission to the European Union EEA (European Environment Agency). Each monitoring site is displayed as a fixed point based on handheld gps units used to conduct sites surveys. Accuracy based on handheld units is <10m.