This collection is a legacy product that is no longer supported. It may not meet current governmentstandards.

An area encompassing part or all of a surface drainage basin, a combination of drainage basins, or adistinct hydrologic feature. Watersheds are mapped in a hierarchical system, with the largest unitsencompassing the drainage areas of oceans, or of major rivers or river systems, and the subsequentlysmaller units within them encompassing the drainage areas of smaller rivers and streams.

The North American Atlas – Basin Watersheds data set shows watersheds in North America at1:10,000,000. A watershed is an area encompassing part or all of a surface drainage basin, acombination of drainage basins, or a distinct hydrologic feature. Watersheds are mapped in ahierarchical system, with the largest units encompassing the entire drainage areas of major rivers orriver systems, or encompassing seaboard areas. Within these large units, subsequently smaller unitsencompass the drainage areas of smaller rivers and streams. Watersheds are classifi ed differently inCanada, Mexico and the United States; the data set includes a continental classifi cation (the NorthAmerican Watershed, or NAW level), as well as the classifi cation unique to each country. This data setwas compiled from each country’s watershed fi le and adjustments were made to the data to resolvemisalignments and mismatches across international borders.

• Boundaries
• Canada
• Countries
• Hydrography
• Inland waters
• Lakes
• Mexico
• Mid-latitude
• North America
• Northern Hemisphere
• Rivers
• United States of America
• Water
• Watercourses
• Western Hemisphere

Please see, https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada 

The North American Atlas data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national andcontinental level. These data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:10,000,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by Natural Resources Canada, Instituto Nacional deEstadística y Geografía, National Atlas of the United States, or the Commission for EnvironmentalCooperation in the use of these data.

Source: https://natural-resources.canada.ca/science-and-data/science-and-research/earth-sciences/geography/topographic-information/download-directory-documentation/17215

The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is an international organization created byCanada, Mexico, and the United States of America under the North American

Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). The CEC was established to address regionalenvironmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental confl icts, and to promote theeffective enforcement of environmental law. The Agreement complements the environmentalprovisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Further information on the CEC isavailable from
http://www.cec.org/ (http://www.cec.org/) or from

Commission for Environmental Cooperation

393, rue St-Jacques Ouest

Bureau 200

Montréal (Québec)

H2Y 1N9 Canada

Telephone: 1 514 350 4300

Facsimile: 1 514 350 4314

Electronic mail: info@cec.org (mailto:info@cec.org)

These data are distributed in both geographic coordinates (through National Atlas of Canada, INEGI,and National Atlas of the United States), and Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection (CEC). Thefollowing parameters are used for the Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection:

Longitude_of_Projection_Center: -100.00

Latitude_of_Projection_Center: 45.00

False_Easting (metres): 0.0

False_Northing (metres): 0.0

Semi-major_Axis: 6370997.0

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 1.0

Ellipsoid_Name: Sphere

Units: metres