Water body status objectives describe the long term planned status of a water body that must be achieved or maintained.
There are two different status objectives for each water body. For surface waters these are ecological status or potential objective and chemical status objective; for groundwater these are quantitative status objective and chemical status objectives. The water body objectives are derived from the objectives for the relevant individual elements within the water body.
Water body objectives consist of two pieces of information: the status and the date by which that status is planned to be achieved. The status part of an objective is based on a prediction of the future status classification that would be achieved if technically feasible measures are implemented and, when implemented, would give rise to more benefits than they cost. The objective also takes into account the requirement to prevent deterioration and, as far as practicable, the requirements of protected areas. The date part of an objective is determined by considering whether the measures needed to achieve the planned status are currently affordable and, once implemented, the time taken for ecology or the groundwater to recover.
This data supports the Water Framework Directive river basin management plans that can be found here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/England Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved.