Identification

Title

Historic River Quality Objectives

Abstract

This record is for Approval for Access product AfA164. The River Quality Objectives (RQO) classification was used for planning water quality improvements until 2006 when the scheme ended. RQOs were assigned to all significantly sized rivers (based on river flow). RQOs were based on the River Ecosystem (RE) Classification Scheme which was introduced in 1994 to replace the National Water Council's methodology. The RE system consists of five classes (1-5) based on the same determinands used in the General Quality Assessment (GQA) chemistry assessment of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), ammonia and dissolved oxygen but also includes the additional determinands of (free (or un-ionised) ammonia, pH, hardness, dissolved copper and total zinc) that reflect the requirements of a river ecosystem. Chemical samples were taken 12 times a year. Any river quality failures, their reasons and actions to be taken, were stored in separate tables. The national RQO classification scheme ceased at the end of 2006, it is now a fixed table which will not be updated. RQO compliance figures are available for 1997-2006. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015. All rights reserved.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://environment.data.gov.uk/datafiles/ca704d1241a74b5ebdc52c6d54f457d1

protocol: WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

name: Data_download_link

description: Data download link

https://support.environment.data.gov.uk/hc/en-gb

protocol: http:

name: DSP_CUSTOMER_FORUM

description: DEFRA Data Services Platform Customer Forum

Unique resource identifier

code

64d6ed70-d465-11e4-9fde-f0def148f590

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/27700

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

environment

inlandWaters

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

water quality

water pollution

water analysis

OpenData

originating controlled vocabulary

title

GEMET - Concepts, version 3.1

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-07-20

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-6.236

East bounding longitude

2.072

North bounding latitude

55.816

South bounding latitude

49.943

Extent

Extent group

authority code

code identifying the extent

http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/doc/country/england

Extent group

authority code

code identifying the extent

http://data.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/doc/country/wales

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1976-04-01

End position

2006-03-31

Dataset reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2007-01-01

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

The rivers ecosystem (RE) assessment scheme was a national scheme used to assess river water quality based on results of water column sampling. Sample point locations were monitored for 7 chemical parameters and annually assessed against the standards specific to each RE class. Data is represented as river stretches and stored in a stand alone access database on the O drive (Environment Agency's shared drive).

Conformity

Data format

name of format

Proprietary format | ESRI, Intergraph, MS Access (MDB)

version of format

Unknown

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Open Government Licence

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

There are no public access constraints to this data. Use of this data is subject to the licence identified.

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

Environment Agency

email address

DSPcustomerforum@environment-agency.gov.uk

web address

https://support.environment.data.gov.uk/hc/en-gb

description: Defra Data Services Forum

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

Environment Agency

email address

metadata@environment-agency.gov.uk

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2020-09-29

Metadata language

eng