North America Watersheds

This map shows the major North American drainage basins, or watersheds, which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The map has been assembled by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation based on available input data in 2010.

Overview

This map layer presents a dataset of watersheds across North America, encompassing parts of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It depicts watershed areas that include whole or portions of surface drainage basins, organized in a hierarchical system from major river systems down to smaller tributaries and streams.

The map layer offers a hierarchical classification of watersheds consistent with the North American Environmental Atlas. It includes a continental watershed classification as well as country-specific classifications, reflecting the differing systems used in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The data was compiled and edge-matched to ensure geographic alignment across international borders, supporting transboundary water resource management.

The dataset supports multiple languages for watershed names, including English, Spanish, and French, facilitating accessibility across North America. It also provides various reference codes and regional identifiers relevant to each country's hydrological framework.

Geographic Coverage

The coverage spans North America (including Hawaii and Puerto Rico) detailing watersheds that drain into major bodies of water including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea.

Data Sources and Licensing

This data is produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in cooperation with Natural Resources Canada, Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), and the U.S. Geological Survey. The data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing redistribution and adaptation with appropriate attribution.

Update frequency: Irregular

Limitations of use: Intended for continental-scale reference.

Vintage: The information presented in the map layer represents the available input data in 2010

Applications (Intended Use)

• Environmental monitoring and management of water resources
• Cross-border watershed planning and policy development
• Hydrological research and educational purposes
• Supporting infrastructure development and natural resources conservation efforts

Files Download

Datasets available for download

• Watersheds Level IIFeature Layer

  Layer 6 via ArcGIS REST API

  To Download

  • More information
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• Amrica del Norte
• Amrique du Nord
• Bassins hidrogrficas
• CCA
• CCE
• CEC
• Canad
• Canada
• Cuencas hidrogrficas
• Estados Unidos
• Mexico
• Mexique
• Mxico
• North America
• United States
• Watersheds
• tats-Unis

Additional Info

• Maturity Level 1 (62%)
• Maturity Level 2 (46%)
• Maturity Level 3 (44%)
• Maturity Level 4 (20%)
• Maturity Level 5 (0%)
• Maturity Level 6 (38%)

Field	Value
Last Updated	September 23, 2026, 07:34 (UTC)
Created	March 24, 2026, 21:06 (UTC)
Domain / Topic Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title Title for the Dataset.	North America Watersheds
Description A description of the dataset.	This map shows the major North American drainage basins, or watersheds, which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, Hudson Bay, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The map has been assembled by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation based on available input data in 2010. Overview This map layer presents a dataset of watersheds across North America, encompassing parts of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. It depicts watershed areas that include whole or portions of surface drainage basins, organized in a hierarchical system from major river systems down to smaller tributaries and streams. The map layer offers a hierarchical classification of watersheds consistent with the North American Environmental Atlas. It includes a continental watershed classification as well as country-specific classifications, reflecting the differing systems used in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The data was compiled and edge-matched to ensure geographic alignment across international borders, supporting transboundary water resource management. The dataset supports multiple languages for watershed names, including English, Spanish, and French, facilitating accessibility across North America. It also provides various reference codes and regional identifiers relevant to each country's hydrological framework. Geographic Coverage The coverage spans North America (including Hawaii and Puerto Rico) detailing watersheds that drain into major bodies of water including the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea. Data Sources and Licensing This data is produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in cooperation with Natural Resources Canada, Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), and the U.S. Geological Survey. The data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), allowing redistribution and adaptation with appropriate attribution. Update frequency: Irregular Limitations of use: Intended for continental-scale reference. Vintage: The information presented in the map layer represents the available input data in 2010 Applications (Intended Use) Environmental monitoring and management of water resources Cross-border watershed planning and policy development Hydrological research and educational purposes Supporting infrastructure development and natural resources conservation efforts Files Download
Tags / Keywords Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.	Amrica del Norte Amrique du Nord Bassins hidrogrficas CCA CCE CEC Canad Canada Cuencas hidrogrficas Estados Unidos Mexico Mexique Mxico North America United States Watersheds tats-Unis
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc) File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size Dataset size in megabytes.	12872.0
Metadata Identifier Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry	NAatlas_0.04_metadata
Published Date Published date of the dataset.	2023-04-10
Time Period Data Span (start date) Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date) End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.

Field	Value
Access category Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).	public
License License used to access the dataset.	Creative Commons Attribution
Limits on use Limits on use of data.
Location Location of the dataset.	https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/3b53b84647dd48a19008d7f8cdad92f9
Data Service Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner Owner of the dataset.	CECAtlas
Contact Point Who to contact regarding access?
Contact Point Email The email to contact regarding access?
Publisher Publisher of the dataset.
Publisher Email Email of the publisher.
Author Author of the dataset.	CECAtlas
Author Email Email of the author.
Accessed At Date the data and metadata was accessed.	2026-08-20

Field	Value
Identifier Unique identifier for the dataset.	3b53b84647dd48a19008d7f8cdad92f9
Language Language(s) of the dataset	English
Link to dataset description A URL to an external document describing the dataset.	https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/3b53b84647dd48a19008d7f8cdad92f9
Persistent Identifier Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type Platform type of the source portal.

Field	Value
Version Version of the datatset	None
Source Source of the dataset.	None
Version notes Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset Link to dataset that it is a version of.	Unified: North America Watersheds
Other versions Link to datasets that are versions of it.	North America Watersheds
Provenance Text Provenance Text of the data.
Provenance URL Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions) Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.

Field	Value
Indigenous Community Permission Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about Indigenous communities from which data is derived.

Field	Value
Number of data rows If tabular dataset, total number of rows.	1825
Number of data columns If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.	76
Number of data cells If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.	138700
Number of data relations If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
Metric for data quality A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.

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