Data on the physical properties (transmissivity, storage coefficient, porosity and permeability) of aquifers in England and Wales. Compiled by BGS staff from paper records of field and laboratory testing held by BGS, the Environment Agency and other organisations. Contains summary data on approximately 20,000 pump tests at over 2000 discrete locations. Raw data may be available on request. The majority of BGS and EA pump test data is included for both major and minor aquifers, but in minor aquifers this is complemented by data on specific yield. Laboratory determinations of porosity and permeability are limited to open file BGS data only. All data subject to similar processing and interpretation, but raw data highly variable.

Joint BGS/Environment Agency dataset of aquifer designations for England and Wales at 1:50 000. The dataset identifies different types of aquifer - underground layers of water-bearing permeable rock or drift deposits from which groundwater can be extracted. These designations reflect the importance of aquifers in terms of groundwater as a resource (drinking water supply) but also their role in supporting surface water flows and wetland ecosystems. The maps are split into two different type of aquifer designation: superficial - permeable unconsolidated (loose) deposits (for example, sands and gravels), and bedrock - solid permeable formations e.g. sandstone, chalk and limestone.

Digitised versions of a set of 1:100,000 scale maps of aquifer vulnerability for England and Wales. The dataset identifies the vulnerability to pollution of major and minor aquifers as defined by the Environment Agency, utilising a combination of geological, hydrogeological and soils data. The maps are designed to be used by planners, developers, consultants and regulatory bodies to ensure that developments conform to the Policy and Practice of the Environment Agency for the protection of Groundwater. Please note that these maps are based on data from the late 1980's and early 1990's, more up-to-date digital data may now be available from the Environment Agency. Flat maps may be purchased from the BGS, some sheets are now out of print.

These maps provide an overview, at the national scale, of the spatial relationships between principal aquifers and some of the major shale and clay units in England and Wales. The data comprises a series of occurrence maps shows the distribution of rock units that form the principal aquifers and some major shale and clay units in England and Wales. In addition, a series of separation maps show the vertical separation between pairs of shales or clays and overlying aquifers. If shale gas resources are to be developed in the UK, the implications for groundwater will need to be considered as part of any risk assessment. A step in such an assessment will be to understand and quantify the spatial relationships between the potential shale gas source rocks (including both shales and some clay units) and overlying aquifers. The datasets used to produce the aquifer maps, the shale and clay occurrence maps and the separation maps are available to download for your own use. As with other BGS data sets available for download, this will enable you to work offline to develop your own systems and methodologies using BGS data. The data used to produce the aquifer, shale and clay maps are available below as ESRI GIS and KML files.

This dataset is available for use for non-commercial purposes only on request as AfA248 dataset Groundwater Vulnerability Maps (2017). For commercial use please contact the British Geological Survey.

The Groundwater Vulnerability Maps show the vulnerability of groundwater to a pollutant discharged at ground level based on the hydrological, geological, hydrogeological and soil properties within a single square kilometre. The 2017 publication has updated the groundwater vulnerability maps to reflect improvements in data mapping, modelling capability and understanding of the factors affecting vulnerability Two map products are available: • The combined groundwater vulnerability map. This product is designed for technical specialists due to the complex nature of the legend which displays groundwater vulnerability (High, Medium, Low), the type of aquifer (bedrock and/or superficial) and aquifer designation status (Principal, Secondary, Unproductive). These maps require that the user is able to understand the vulnerability assessment and interpret the individual components of the legend.

• The simplified groundwater vulnerability map. This was developed for non-specialists who need to know the overall risk to groundwater but do not have extensive hydrogeological knowledge or the time to interpret the underlying data. The map has five risk categories (High, Medium-High, Medium, Medium-Low and Low) based on the likelihood of a pollutant reaching the groundwater (i.e. the vulnerability), the types of aquifer present and the potential impact (i.e. the aquifer designation status). The two maps also identify areas where solution features that enable rapid movement of a pollutant may be present (identified as stippled areas) and areas where additional local information affecting vulnerability is held by the Environment Agency (identified as dashed areas).

This layer of the map based index (GeoIndex) shows where aquifer vulnerability maps are available for England and Wales. These maps identify areas in which the groundwater resources require protection from potentially polluting activities. The maps are designed to be used by planners, developers, consultants and regulatory bodies to ensure that developments conform to the Policy and Practice of the Environment Agency for the protection of Groundwater. The Soil Survey, Land Research Centre and the British Geological Survey were commissioned by the Environment Agency to prepare 53 groundwater vulnerability maps at 1:100,000 scale. Currently we are unable to provide scanned copies of these maps due to Copyright restrictions. Please note that these maps are based on data from the late 1980's and early 1990's. More up-to-date digital data may now be available from the Environment Agency.

The Bedrock Aquifer Productivity Scotland dataset forms part of the BGS Hydrogeological Maps of Scotland data product. This product is comprised of three datasets: Bedrock Aquifer Productivity Scotland; Superficial Aquifer Productivity Scotland; and Groundwater Vulnerability Scotland. Aquifer productivity is a measure of the potential of aquifers to sustain a borehole water supply. The Bedrock Aquifer Productivity Scotland dataset version 2 (2015) indicates the location and productivity of bedrock aquifers across Scotland, and their groundwater flow characteristics. Developed as a tool to support groundwater resource management, the dataset provides a guide to aquifer characteristics at a regional scale, and may be useful to anyone interested in learning more about, assessing or managing groundwater resources across Scotland. The dataset is delivered at 1: 100 000 scale; the resolution of the dataset being 50 m and the smallest detectable feature 100 m.

The Environment Agency has updated its groundwater vulnerability map to reflect improvements in data mapping, modelling capability and understanding of the factors affecting vulnerability. Two new maps are available which show the vulnerability of groundwater to a pollutant discharged at ground level. The potential impact of groundwater pollution is considered using the aquifer designation status which provides an indication of the scale and importance of groundwater for potable water supply and/or in supporting baseflow to rivers, lakes and wetlands. This dataset has shared IP (Intellectual Property) between Environment Agency and British Geological Survey. It supersedes the previous Groundwater Vulnerability 100k data released by EA.

A collection of hydrogeological maps created by the British Geological Survey between 1967 and 1994. The maps in the collection cover aspects of groundwater availability, exploitation and quality, and were published at various scales from 1:25 000 to 1:625 000. A hydrogeological map is a specialized type of map that illustrates the distribution and characteristics of hydrogeological features in a particular area. Hydrogeological maps of the UK provide information on major aquifers, including geological and lithological information, surface drainage systems and water quality issues. The 23 maps show information on surface water features, the three dimensional geometry of aquifers, groundwater levels, abstractions and quality including saline intrusion in varying amounts of detail. They range in scale from 1:625 000, for the national map of the hydrogeology of England and Wales, down to 1:25 000 for some of the smaller regional maps. These maps are important tools for understanding and managing groundwater resources, as well as for addressing water-related environmental issues. These maps are hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC), and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

The '1:50k WFD Groundwaterbodies is a polygon dataset which has been created for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Article 2, clause 2 of the WFD defines them as '…all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil'. For the purposes of reporting under the WFD a groundwater body represent a distinct body of groundwater flow with a coherent flow unit including recharge and discharge areas with little flow across the boundaries. These reflect hydrogeological characteristics containing information on flow and stage properties, recharge and vulnerability to pollution. This has been undertaken through defining aquifers into different types and broken into catchment units at Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) scale. The primary input dataset is '1:625K Classified Aquifer Geology' that has been constructed by the Environment Agency. This dataset has been digitised directly from the hard copy '1:250K Solid Geology Map' and classified according to aquifer type and are therefore directly derived from the underlying BGS data. These classifications were verified by the British Geology Survey (BGS). These data have gone out for consultation at Area level and in some instances 1:50K Solid Geology has been used to define localised boundaries. Since waterbodies are attributed with a unique identifier 'WB_ID' this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources such as physical characteristics, risk, classification and proposed objectives.

The 'WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 2' is actually just an update of the geometries previously supplied as part of AfA090 1:50k WFD Groundwater bodies.

This is a polygon dataset showing Water Framework Directive (WFD) Groundwater Bodies. It shows major groundwater bodies (aquifers).

This dataset provides attribution relating to the 2022 classification results, as well as other relevant information and data about each groundwater body.

Article 2, clause 2 of the WFD defines groundwater bodies as '…all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil'.

For the purposes of reporting under the WFD, a groundwater body represents a distinct body of groundwater flow with a coherent flow unit including recharge and discharge areas with little flow across the boundaries. These reflect hydrogeological characteristics containing information on flow and stage properties, recharge and vulnerability to pollution. This has been undertaken through defining aquifers into different types and broken into catchment units at Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) scale.

The primary input dataset is '1:625K Classified Aquifer Geology' that has been constructed by the Environment Agency. This dataset has been digitised directly from the hard copy '1:250K Solid Geology Map', and classified according to aquifer type, and is therefore directly derived from the underlying BGS data. These classifications were verified by the British Geology Survey (BGS). The data has gone out for consultation at Area level, and in some instances 1:50K Solid Geology has been used to define localised boundaries. Ordnance Survey data has been used when creating this dataset. The OS data used was from OS OpenMap - Local.

There are two layer files associated with this dataset. There is a layer file called WFD_Groundwater_Bodies_Cycle_3_Classification_2022_Chemical_Class.lyrx, and a layer file called WFD_Groundwater_Bodies_Cycle_3_Classification_2022_Quantitative_Class.lyrx. The layer files display the chemical class, and the quantitative class for each groundwater body. Please note that there are limitations with the shapefile format of the data. The data applies to Cycle 3 of the WFD.

Database of water levels in selected observation boreholes: daily, weekly or monthly measurements. Consistent set of boreholes in catchments relatively undisturbed by pumping distributed across most significant aquifer units in the UK. Most sites have more than 30 years of data, and some sites have considerably longer time series. The dataset represents only 5% of active groundwater monitoring networks run by UK measuring agencies. BGS holds other, historical, groundwater level data, including one off measurements and time series.

WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 2 Classification 2019 is an alternate version of ‘WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 2’ with the addition of 2019 classification data and additional user attribution. The geometry has been simplified to improve user experience, so the high resolution legal definition of these water bodies remains ‘WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 2’. These are polygon datasets which have been created for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Article 2, clause 2 of the WFD defines them as '…all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil'. For the purposes of reporting under the WFD a groundwater body represent a distinct body of groundwater flow with a coherent flow unit including recharge and discharge areas with little flow across the boundaries. These reflect hydrogeological characteristics containing information on flow and stage properties, recharge and vulnerability to pollution. This has been undertaken through defining aquifers into different types and broken into catchment units at Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) scale.

The primary input dataset is '1:625K Classified Aquifer Geology' that has been constructed by the Environment Agency. This dataset has been digitised directly from the hard copy '1:250K Solid Geology Map' and classified according to aquifer type and are therefore directly derived from the underlying BGS data. These classifications were verified by the British Geology Survey (BGS). These data have gone out for consultation at Area level and in some instances 1:50K Solid Geology has been used to define localised boundaries. The geometry of this dataset has then been simplified to allow for fast display, analysis and reduced file sizes.

Since water bodies are attributed with a unique water body identifier 'WB_ID' this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources.

This 5 km resolution grid presents groundwater storage in Africa (in mm). This parameter was estimated by combining the saturated aquifer thickness and effective porosity of aquifers across Africa. For each aquifer flow/storage type an effective porosity range was assigned based on a series of studies across Africa and surrogates in other parts of the world. Groundwater storage is given in millimeters. Detailed description of the methodology, and a full list of data sources used to develop the layer can be found in the peer-reviewed paper available here: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024009/pdfThe raster and a high resolution PDF file are available for download on the website of British Geological Survey (BGS): http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/international/africanGroundwater/mapsDownload.html

The '1:50k WFD Groundwaterbodies is a polygon dataset which has been created for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Article 2, clause 2 of the WFD defines them as '…all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil'. For the purposes of reporting under the WFD a groundwater body represent a distinct body of groundwater flow with a coherent flow unit including recharge and discharge areas with little flow across the boundaries. These reflect hydrogeological characteristics containing information on flow and stage properties, recharge and vulnerability to pollution. This has been undertaken through defining aquifers into different types and broken into catchment units at Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) scale. The primary input dataset is '1:625K Classified Aquifer Geology' that has been constructed by the Environment Agency. This dataset has been digitised directly from the hard copy '1:250K Solid Geology Map' and classified according to aquifer type and are therefore directly derived from the underlying BGS data. These classifications were verified by the British Geology Survey (BGS). These data have gone out for consultation at Area level and in some instances 1:50K Solid Geology has been used to define localised boundaries. Since waterbodies are attributed with a unique identifier 'WB_ID' this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources such as physical characteristics, risk, classification and proposed objectives. The 'WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 2' is actually just an update of the geometries previously supplied as part of AfA090 1:50k WFD Groundwater bodies. Attribution statement: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2016. All rights reserved. Derived in part from 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 scale digital data under permission from British Geological Survey. ©NERC. © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey 100024198.

This dataset is a model output created using the BGS AquiMod model. It provides monthly groundwater level relative to the Ordnance Datum (maOD) from 1891 to 2015, reconstructed for 54 observation boreholes across the UK. Based on the Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology, 90th percentile and 10th percentile confidence bounds have been estimated and are given for each of reconstructed groundwater level time series.

The map shows the potential for the rocks to supply groundwater and the type of groundwater flow within the rocks. The dataset reattributes polygons in the Digital Geological Map Data of Great Britain - 625k (DiGMapGB-625) Bedrock version 5 dataset to indicate whether the bedrock is an aquifer, the type of flow through the aquifer (fracture and fissure flow or intergranular flow) and how productive the aquifer is likely to be. The dataset is based on the known hydrogeological properties of rock types. The dataset covers just the bedrock formations for the UK and the Isle of Man. The data can be used for planning, environmental analysis, water supply and hazards.

WFD Groundwater Bodies Cycle 1 is a polygon Shapefile dataset containing attributes that have been collated as defined for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). ie '…all water which is below the surface of the ground in the saturation zone and in direct contact with the ground or subsoil'. For the purposes of reporting under the WFD a groundwater body represent a distinct body of groundwater flow with a coherent flow unit including recharge and discharge areas with little flow across the boundaries. These reflect hydrogeological characteristics containing information on flow and stage properties, recharge and vulnerability to pollution. This has been undertaken through defining aquifers into different types and broken into catchment units at Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy (CAMS) scale. The primary input dataset is '1:625K Classified Aquifer Geology' that has been constructed by the Environment Agency. This dataset has been digitised directly from the hard copy '1:250K Solid Geology Map' and classified according to aquifer type and are therefore directly derived from the underlying BGS data. These classifications were verified by the British Geology Survey (BGS). These data have gone out for consultation at Area level and in some instances 1:50K Solid Geology has been used to define localised boundaries. This dataset was previously known as WFD Groundwaterbodies. Water bodies are attributed with a unique identifier ‘EA_WB_ID' (equivalent to WB_ID in Cycle 2) so this dataset can be linked directly to other WFD data sources such as physical characteristics, risk, classification and proposed objectives as well as Cycle 2 datasets. This dataset covers the layer for Cycle 1 of the Water Framework Directive. The equivalent layer for Cycle 2 is covered under WFD Groundwater bodies Cycle 2. Please note that the Environment Agency no longer provide data for water bodies in Wales - this should now available from Natural Resources Wales.

This dataset contains information about planktonic bacterial quantity at the drinking water pumping stations installed in three different aquifer types of England. The aim of data collection was to assess spatial and seasonal variation of groundwater bacterioplankton distribution and their dependence on organic matter, nutrient concentration and local hydrogeology. Untreated groundwater samples were collected from the intergranular sandstone aquifer of English Midlands and East Midlands, the dual porosity chalk aquifer of South East England and the karstic limestone aquifer of the Cotswolds. For temporal variation in each aquifer, the same aquifers were sampled during pre-recharge season in September-October 2022 and post-recharge season in January-February 2023.

The Groundwater Vulnerability Scotland dataset forms part of the BGS Hydrogeological Maps of Scotland data product. This product is comprised of three datasets: Bedrock Aquifer Productivity Scotland; Superficial Aquifer Productivity Scotland; and Groundwater Vulnerability Scotland. The Groundwater Vulnerability Scotland dataset version 2 (2015) shows the relative vulnerability of groundwater to contamination across Scotland. Groundwater vulnerability is the tendency and likelihood for general contaminants to move vertically through the unsaturated zone and reach the uppermost water table after introduction at the ground surface. The groundwater vulnerability dataset was developed as a screening tool to support groundwater management at a regional scale across Scotland, and specifically to aid groundwater risk assessment. The data can be used to show the relative threat to groundwater quality from contamination, by highlighting areas at comparatively higher risk of groundwater contamination. The dataset is delivered at 1: 100 000 scale; the resolution of the dataset being 50m and the smallest detectable feature 100 m