Drinking Water Safeguard Zones (Surface Water)

Drinking Water Safeguard Zones (Surface Water) are catchment areas that influence the water quality for their respective Drinking Water Protected Area (Surface Water). They are identified where the protected area has been assigned as being "at risk" of failing the drinking water protection objectives of the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England & Wales) Regulations 2017. Safeguard Zones are one of the main tools for delivering the drinking water protection objectives. These Safeguard Zones are a non-statutory, joint initiative between the Environment Agency and water companies that define areas where actions and measures will be targeted to address water contamination and avoid or minimise extra treatment needed by water companies. Impacts, sources, actions and measures proposed for each Safeguard Zone are provided in accompanying Action Plans which are periodically reviewed and updated. This dataset provides a national shapefile of all Safeguard Zone areas and identifies which substances are causing the drinking water protected area to be ‘at risk’. The links to the Safeguard Zone Action Plans are embedded in the shapefile attributes and provided in an accompanying csv download. The Drinking Water Protected Areas (Surface Water) dataset is also available elsewhere on the DSP site. This data was updated in 2022 following a national review of surface water protected area records for the Cycle 3 River basin Management Plans. Please note the status of these Safeguard Zones are continuously under review and details may change or become out of date once published. Please send any data or other enquiries in relation to this dataset to the point of contact identified below.