In 2009 54 river water bodies were designated as HMWBs in NI, and 1 canal was designated as an artificial water body (AWB). For the second River basin cycle several water bodies have been merged or changed. This has reduced the number of heavily modified water bodies by a total of twelve, since 2009, due to merging HMWBs or de-designating due to the larger unaffected area.
Summary of changes to river heavily modified and artificial water bodies 2015