River drainage areas and lake catchments

This theme includes the drainage areas of various watercourse monitoring stations (physicochemical and bacteriological, benthic organisms, diatoms, pesticides, etc.) carried out by the Ministry of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks (MELCCFP) as well as lake catchments (MELCCFP) as well as lake catchments including the majority of lakes in the Voluntary Lake Monitoring Network (RSVL).

The drainage area and the watershed represent the territory whose water flows to the sampling station or to the outlet of the lake. Boundaries are generated using a geographic information system (GIS) from topographic maps, numerical elevation models and flow models, and watershed boundaries produced by the Main Directorate of Water Expertise (DPEH).

The drainage area and watershed are used to calculate the area drained upstream of the sampling station or lake, to characterize the drained territory (for example, to determine land use), and to meet specific mapping needs. The linked tables also provide compilations of land use according to three classifications to contextualize the various monitoring carried out at the stations. Note that the use of land outside Quebec, drainage areas and transboundary watersheds is not calculated and that the percentages in each category correspond to the Quebec area only.This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).