The Water Framework Directive (WFD) required Northern Ireland to define both surface and groundwaters as a coherent set of hydrological units. These units would then be monitored and managed to prevent deterioration in water quality and aquatic ecosystems through the implementation a programme of measures to drive improvements.
This dataset includes Northern Ireland lakes that are greater than 50ha, which are assessed under WFD legislation.
Lakes water body datasets in a variety of formats are also available on the Open Data NI website.
Lake Water Bodies August 2016 SHP