River Basin Districts (RBDs) and/or their subunits are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive. The geographic area of some RBDs span more than one country (such as the Danube) and these are known as International RBDs. Others are contained completely within a country and are known as National RBDs. River basin districts are defined as the area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is identified under Article 3(1) as the main unit for management of river basins. Coastal waters are defined as one nautical mile from the coastline and extending, where appropriate, up to the outer limit of transitional waters. Coastal waters are included in RBDs, but this is not consistenly reported by Member States. Transitional waters are defined as bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows. For more information about European waters, please visit the WISE portal (http://water.europa.eu/).

The shape file GWB_horizon_h4 comprises all GWBs located in the groundwater body horizon 4, which are usually underlying the groundwater bodies assigned to horizon 3. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

The sixteen Ground Water Basins of the Reunion Island are merged into a separate shape due to the location in the southern hemisphere resulting in a deviating map projection. All GWBs in Reunion are assigned to horizon 1. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

Switzerland as a non EU member state delivers GWB data on a voluntary basis. All 124 GWBs submitted with the update in 2012 are allocated to horizon 1. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

The shape file GWB_horizon_h4 comprises all GWBs located in the groundwater body horizon 4, which are usually underlying the groundwater bodies assigned to horizon 3. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

The shape file GWB_horizon_h3 comprises all GWBs located in the groundwater body horizon 3, which are usually underlying the groundwater bodies assigned to horizon 2. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

The shape file GWB_horizon_h2 comprises all GWBs located in the groundwater body horizon 2. Depending on the applied method these Ground Water Bodies are either underlying the uppermost groundwater body horizon 1 or form the uppermost groundwater body resources in many parts of a MS. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

River Basin Districts (RBDs) and/or their subunits are the main units for the management of river basins and have been delineated by Member States under Article 3 of the Water Framework Directive. The geographic area of some RBDs span more than one country (such as the Danube) and these are known as International RBDs. Others are contained completely within a country and are known as National RBDs. River basin districts are defined as the area of land and sea, made up of one or more neighbouring river basins together with their associated groundwaters and coastal waters, which is identified under Article 3(1) as the main unit for management of river basins. Coastal waters are defined as one nautical mile from the coastline and extending, where appropriate, up to the outer limit of transitional waters. Coastal waters are included in RBDs, but this is not consistenly reported by Member States. Transitional waters are defined as bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows. For more information about European waters, please visit the WISE portal (http://water.europa.eu/).

The shape file GWB_horizon_h6_h7 comprises thirty-one Italian GWBs located in the groundwater body horizons 6 and 7 of Sardinia. These GWBs had been reported for the first time in 2012 as an update of the reporting. They are aggregated into one shape file to underline the position that a threshold of five horizons should not be exceeded. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.

Switzerland as a non EU member state delivers GWB data on a voluntary basis. All 124 GWBs submitted with the update in 2012 are allocated to horizon 1. The dbf tables of the shape files include the columns “EU_CD_GW” as the GWB identifier and “Horizon” describing the vertical positioning. The polygon identifier “Polygon_ID” was added subsequently, because some GWBs consist of several polygons with identical “EU_CD_GW”even in the same horizon. Some further GWB characteristics are provided with the Microsoft Excel file “GWB_attributes_2012June.xls” including the column “EU_CD_GW”, which serves as a key for joining spatial and attribute data. There is no corresponding spatial data for GWBs in the Microsoft Excel table without an entry in column “EU_CD_GW”. The spatial resolution is given for about a half of the GWBs in the column “Scale” of the xls file, which is varying between the MS from 1:10,000 to 1:1,000,000 and mostly in the range from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000.