{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/water-framework-directive-classification-priority-substances-and-shellfish-waters-regulations-northern-ireland-2015/schedule-1/part-3/paragraph-14",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/water-framework-directive-classification-priority-substances-and-shellfish-waters-regulations-northern-ireland-2015/schedule-1/part-3/paragraph-14.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/2015/351",
  "legislation_title": "The Water Framework Directive (Classification, Priority Substances and Shellfish Waters) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/water-framework-directive-classification-priority-substances-and-shellfish-waters-regulations-northern-ireland-2015",
  "path": "schedule/1/part/3/paragraph/14",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "14",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "The Department must apply, as applicable, to any transitional water or part thereof, the “high”, “good”, “moderate”, “poor” or “bad” fish boundary value for transitional waters specified in Table 18 below.\nTable 1\nBenthic invertebrate fauna Walley Hawkes Paisley Trigg (WHPT) boundary values (WHPT Average Score per Taxon) for rivers\nBoundary values for the degree to which the annual mean sensitivity to disturbance of the observed taxa differs from the annual mean sensitivity of the taxa expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.97\nGood\n0.86\nModerate\n0.72\nPoor\n0.59\nBad\n< 0.59\nTable 2\nBenthic invertebrate fauna Walley Hawkes Paisley Trigg (WHPT) boundary values (WHPT Number of TAXA) for rivers\nBoundary values for the degree to which the annual mean number of disturbance-sensitive taxa differs from the annual mean number of taxa expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.80\nGood\n0.68\nModerate\n0.56\nPoor\n0.47\nBad\n< 0.47\nTable 3\nPhytobenthos (Diatom) boundary values for rivers\nBoundary values for the degree to which the relative annual mean abundances of nutrient-sensitive and nutrient-tolerant groups of diatom taxa differ from the relative annual mean abundances of these groups of taxa expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.80\nGood\n0.60\nModerate\n0.40\nPoor\n0.20\nBad\n< 0.20\nTable 4\nMacrophyte boundary values for rivers\nBoundary values for the degree to which the annual mean abundances of disturbance-sensitive and disturbance-tolerant macrophyte taxa differ from the annual mean abundances of those taxa under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.80\nGood\n0.60\nModerate\n0.40\nPoor\n0.20\nBad\n< 0.20\nTable 5\nFreshwater Fish FCS2 (Ireland) boundary values for rivers\n1 FCS2 (Ireland) is the Fisheries Classification Scheme 2 (Ireland) model developed for WFD Ecoregion 17 which is the island of Ireland\nEcological quality ratio1\nHigh\n0.845 < EQR<= 1.0\nGood\n0.54 < EQR <= 0.854\nModerate\n0.12 < EQR <= 0.54\nPoor\n0.007 < EQR <= 0.12\nBad\n0 <= EQR <= 0.007\nTable 6\nPhytoplankton boundary values for lakes – chlorophyll a\nBoundary values for the degree to which the biomass of phytoplankton taxa (as represented by the annual mean chlorophyll a concentration) differ from the biomass of those phytoplankton taxa (annual mean chlorophyll a concentration) expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nColumn 3\nColumn 4\nColumn 5\nColumn 6\nLake Type\nHigh alkalinity, shallow\nMarl shallow\nHigh alkalinity, very shallow\nModerate alkalinity, very shallow\nLow alkalinity, very shallow\nMarl very shallow\nModerate alkalinity, deep\nModerate alkalinity, shallow\nModerate alkalinity\nshallow humic\nLow alkalinity, shallow\nLow alkalinity, shallow humic\nLow alkalinity deep\nHigh\n0.55\n0.63\n0.50\n0.64\n0.64\nGood\n0.32\n0.30\n0.33\n0.29\n0.33\nModerate\n0.16\n0.15\n0.17\n0.15\n0.17\nPoor\n0.05\n0.05\n0.05\n0.05\n0.05\nBad\n< 0.05\n< 0.05\n< 0.05\n< 0.05\n< 0.05\nTable 7\nPhytoplankton boundary values for lakes – plankton trophic index\nEcological quality ratio\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nColumn 3\nColumn 4\nColumn 5\nColumn 6\nLake Type\nHigh alkalinity, shallow\nModerate alkalinity very shallow\nLow alkalinity very shallow humic\nMarl very shallow\nHigh alkalinity very shallow\nModerate alkalinity, deep\nModerate alkalinity shallow\nLow alkalinity, shallow humic\nLow alkalinity very shallow Clear\nMarl Shallow\nLow alkalinity\nDeep Clear Water\nLow alkalinity shallow Clear Water\nLow alkalinity shallow humic\nHigh\n0.93\n0.91\n0.95\n0.98\n0.96\nGood\n0.82\n0.80\n0.84\n0.87\n0.85\nModerate\n0.70\n0.68\n0.72\n0.75\n0.73\nPoor\n0.58\n0.56\n0.60\n0.63\n0.61\nBad\n<0.58\n<0.56\n<0.60\n<0.63\n<0.61\nTable 8\nPhytoplankton boundary values for lakes – cyanobacteria biomass\nEcological quality ratio\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nColumn 3\nLake Type\nAll Low and Moderate alkalinity and Marl Lakes\nHigh alkalinity Lakes\nHigh\n0.47\n0.63\nGood\n0.32\n0.43\nModerate\n0.23\n0.34\nPoor\n0.13\n0.21\nBad\n< 0.13\n< 0.21\nTable 9\nPhytobenthos boundary values for lakes\nBoundary values for the degree to which the relative annual mean abundances of nutrient-sensitive and nutrient-tolerant groups of diatom taxa differ from the relative annual mean abundances of these groups of taxa expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nColumn 3\nHigh and Low alkalinity lakes\nModerate alkalinity lakes\nHigh\n0.92\n0.93\nGood\n0.70\n0.66\nModerate\n0.46\n0.46\nPoor\n0.23\n0.23\nBad\n< 0.23\n< 0.23\nTable 10\nAquatic macrophyte boundary values for lakes\n1 The term “macrophyte” refers to larger plants, typically including flowering plants, mosses and larger algae, but not including single-celled phytoplankton or diatoms.\nBoundary values for the degree to which the annual mean abundance of disturbance-sensitive macrophyte1 taxa differ from the annual mean abundance of those taxa expected under reference conditions\nEcological quality ratio\nColumn 1\nColumn 2\nHigh\n0.90\nGood\n0.68\nModerate\n0.42\nPoor\n0.33\nBad\n< 0.33\nTable 11\nFreshwater Fish FiL2 boundary values for lakes\n1 FiL2 is the Fish in Lakes version 2 model developed for WFD Ecoregion 17 which is the island of Ireland\nEcological quality ratio1\nHigh\n0.76 < EQR<= 1.0\nGood\n0.53 < EQR <= 0.76\nModerate\n0.32 < EQR <= 0.53\nPoor/Bad\n0 <= EQR <= 0.32\nTable 12\nBenthic invertebrate fauna boundary values for IMPOSEX in coastal waters\nBoundary values for the degree to which the annual mean occurrence and degree of tributyl tin (TBT) -induced imposex in the common dog whelk, Nucella lapillus, differs from the annual mean occurrence and degree of imposex expected under reference conditions using the Vas Deferens Stage Index (VDSI) (UKTAG Method ISBN 978-1-906934-35-4)\nEcological quality ratio\nVas Deferens Stage Index (VDSI)\nHigh\n0.95\n0.3\nGood\n0.33\n4\nModerate\n0.17\n5\nTable 13\nBenthic invertebrate fauna boundary values for the INFAUNAL Quality Index (IQI) for transitional and coastal waters\nBoundary values relating to the degree to which the annual mean number of benthic invertebrate taxa in soft sediments, the diversity of taxa, and the ratio of disturbance-sensitive and disturbance-tolerant taxa differ from that expected under reference conditions (UKTAG Method ISBN 978-1-906934-34-7)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.75\nGood\n0.64\nModerate\n0.44\nPoor\n0.24\nBad\n< 0.24\nTable 14\nAquatic angiosperm boundary values in transitional and coastal waters\n1 The term “angiosperm” refers to flowering plants. In transitional waters and coastal waters, angiosperms include sea grasses and the flowering plants found in salt marshes, salt marsh tools have not yet been developed.\nAquatic Angiosperm1 Boundary values relating to the degree to which the annual mean shoot density, and spatial extent of sea grass beds, differ that expected under reference conditions (UKTAG Method ISBN 978-1-906934-36-1)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.8\nGood\n0.6\nModerate\n0.4\nPoor\n0.2\nBad\n< 0.2\nTable 15\nPhytoplankton boundary values for transitional and coastal waters\n1 The term “phytoplankton” refers to solitary and colonial unicellular algae and cyanobacteria that live in the water column, at least for part of their lifecycle.\nBoundary values relating to the degree to which biomass, taxonomic composition, bloom frequency and bloom intensity for phytoplankton1 differ from that expected under reference conditions (UKTAG Method ISBN 978-1-906934-41-5 for Transitional waters and UKTAG method ISBN 978-1-906934-33-0 for Coastal Waters)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.8\nGood\n0.6\nModerate\n0.4\nPoor\n0.2\nBad\n< 0.2\nTable 16\nAquatic macroalgae boundary values in transitional and coastal waters\nBoundary values relating to the degree to which mean species richness, proportion of red, green and opportunist seaweeds and ecological status group ratio on rocky intertidal areas differ from that expected under reference conditions (UKTAG Method ISBN 978-1-906934-39-2)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.8\nGood\n0.6\nModerate\n0.4\nPoor\n0.2\nBad\n< 0.2\nTable 17\nAquatic macroalgae boundary values in transitional and coastal waters\n1 The term “macroalgae” refers to multicellular algae such as seaweeds and filamentous algae.\nBoundary values relating to the degree to which opportunistic macroalgal1 extent, biomass and entrainment differ from that expected under reference conditions (UKTAG Method ISBN978-1-906934-37-8)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n0.8\nGood\n0.6\nModerate\n0.4\nPoor\n0.2\nBad\n< 0.2\nTable 18\nFish boundary values for transitional waters\nBoundary values relating to the degree to which transitional water fish communities deviate from expectations in terms of species diversity and composition, species abundance, estuarine utilisation, and trophic composition using the Estuarine Multi-metric Fish Index (EMFI)\nEcological quality ratio\nHigh\n≥ 0.92\nGood\n0.65\nModerate\n0.35\nPoor\n0.10\nBad\n< 0.10",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2015/351/schedule/1/part/3/paragraph/14",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T01:00:03.181368+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}