Zones that represent areas of homogeneous hydrologic and geomorphological characteristics

This cartographic quality series of 1:1 000 000 scale colour maps cover the provincial extent of Alberta. The primary provincial base map displays the Alberta Township System (ATS), major hydrographic features, municipalities, major roads, railways and select geoadministrative features (parks, reserves, etc.). In addition to the primary provincial base map, this series includes various themes that overlay the primary base map. The update of this map series is based on the provincial Base Features Access Update Program that has an approximate 5 year update cycle. Each individual map sheet is provided in Adobe .pdf format. The Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) Watersheds of Alberta represents a collection of five nested hierarchically structured drainage basin feature classes that have been created using the Hydrologic Unit Code system of classification developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) with accommodation to reflect the pre-existing Canadian classification system. The HUC Watersheds of Alberta consist of successively smaller hydrologic units that nest within larger hydrologic units, resulting in a hierarchical grouping of alphanumerically-coded watersheds feature classes. There are currently individual feature classes for HUC 2 (coarsest level), HUC 4, HUC 6, HUC 8 and HUC 10 (finest level). This Georeferenced PDF map features HUC 2 and HUC 4.

Drainage basins of Manitoba.Hydrologic drainage basins found within Manitoba. The Assiniboine River basin is divided to indicate the Shellmouth Reservoir subbasin, to better illustrate local impacts and conditions. Basin names are in English and French. 

The BC Hydrologic Zones represent regions of similar climate and terrain resulting in somewhat homogeneous hydrology characteristics. The zones were defined previously by Obedkoff and others. This dataset has been extended into the neighbouring province, territories, and states for regional flood frequency analysis studies. See Bulletin 2020-1-RFFA British Columbia Extreme Flood Project – Regional Flood Frequency Analysis – Technical development report and manual to complete a regional flood frequency analysis.

Site Regions and Site Districts of Ontario represent an early Ecological Land Classification (ELC) system originally developed by Angus Hills. This dataset was revised by the ELC Working Group in 2000 to better reflect new information and new technology. The Site Regions of Ontario was used for descriptive, planning, and resource management purposes. This upper level in its hierarchy was most useful for provincial and regional roll-ups of data and for strategic planning. Site Districts of Ontario is a more detailed lower (finer-scale) level of the hierarchy, and was more useful for detailed resource management prescriptions and other local and site planning applications. This layer is designed to be used as a spatial selection tool and as a background layer suitable for overlay and or intersection with numerous scales or current hydrologic data.

Polygon features representing the geographical extent of a source area that contributes water to a drinking water system. A drinking water system is any domestic system servicing anything other than a single-family dwelling, as defined in the Drinking Water Protection Act. Source Area is a broad term used to describe any area that could potentially contribute water to the drinking water system; it does not mean that hydrologic analyses have been completed to determine likelihood of connectivity. These source areas most often represent the entire aquifer extent (for ground water systems) or the watershed upstream from the intake (for surface water systems). This is one of three Drinking Water Sources datasets (along with the DWS - Intakes/Wellheads points dataset, and DWS - Protection Zones polygons dataset). Note: these polygons have unique Source Areas IDs used to relate them to the Intakes/Wellhead points.

Hydraulic properties characterize a hydrogeological unit. The hydraulic properties considered for this dataset are the transmissivity, the hydraulic conductivity, the storage coefficient, the specific storage coefficient and the porosity. Hydraulic properties are estimated by performing aquifer tests (pumping tests, slug tests). The hydraulic tests and their duration are managed in this dataset. The methods used to create the dataset are described in the metadata associated with the dataset. The dataset exhibits a general description of hydraulic properties of the hydrogeological unit, including hydraulic test, total test duration, method and date. It includes numbers and/or ranges describing the aquifer tests results. Note that an alternate raster representation could be used in complement to the discrete point-based representation.

Watershed boundary delineated for Canada-BC hydrometric stations. Currently, watersheds were delineated using 1:50,000 scale boundaries in 1996, and many watersheds encompass entire drainages, instead of just the upstream watersheds. Note - Not yet available, but we are in the process of generating BC hydrometric station upstream watersheds using updated base data, using the following method: Within BC, watershed boundaries are based on the 1:20,000-scale Freshwater Atlas fundamental watersheds, and trimmed using the BC TRIM DEM used to approximate the height-of-land at the station locations. Outside of BC, but within Canada, watershed boundaries were approximated using Canada CDED DEM data for delineation (no "stream burning" was used) and some manual editing of boundaries was done to approximately match hydrology data after the fact. Within U.S.A., the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset was used (at the best scale available for each drainage) to delineate the watershed boundary, with the watershed trimmed using the USGS National Elevation Dataset to approximate the height-of-land when necessary.

The Hydrogeological Information System (HIS) contains the physical characteristics of wells and boreholes (location, depth, stratigraphy encountered, etc.) mainly from drilling reports transmitted by well drillers for groundwater sampling installations serving private drinking water residences. The geographic coverage corresponds to all of Quebec although most of the data are found in the south of the province. A monthly update is made.SIH data can be useful for hydrogeology professionals, the academic community and a wider audience in order to make interpretations on portions of territory, for example on the depth of the rock in a sector, or to consult more precise points of information such as the description of a specific identified well.**This third party metadata element was translated using an automated translation tool (Amazon Translate).**

A hydrogeological unit is defined as any soil or rock unit or zone that by virtue of its hydraulic properties has a distinct influence on the storage or movement of groundwater. It is considered the main dataset from the GGP point of view. Hydrogeological units are ranked into five levels (from largest to smallest): 1) hydrogeological region, 2) hydrogeological context, 3) aquifer system, 4) hydrostratigraphic unit, and 5) aquifer. Here are formal definitions for these different types of hydrogeologic units. - Hydrogeological region Hydrogeological regions are areas in which the properties of sub-surface water, or groundwater, are broadly similar in geology, climate and topography. There are 9 such regions identified in Canada (ref?). - Hydrogeological context Hydrogeological contexts are units of reporting, conceptually narrower than regions, and are additionally delineated by physiographic and hydrogeological aspects. - Aquifer system ""A heterogeneous body of intercalated permeable and poorly permeable material that functions regionally as a water-yielding hydraulic unit; it comprises two or more permeable beds [aquifers] separated at least locally by aquitards [confining units] that impede groundwater movement but do not greatly affect the regional hydraulic continuity of the system"" (Poland et al., 1972). - Hydrostratigraphic unit (HSU) ""Body of sediment and/or rock characterized by ground water flow that can be demonstrated to be distinct under both unstressed (natural) and stressed (pumping) conditions, and is distinguishable from flow in other HSUs"" (Noyes et al.) - Aquifer ""A formation, group of formations, or part of a formation that contains sufficient saturated permeable material to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs"" (Lohman et al, 1972, p. 21). The rank attribute is used to specify the scope of the described unit. The general principle behind this specification is to allow the same data structure to apply to various types of hydrogeological units, from the local aquifer to the almost continental hydrogeological region. The dataset includes properties such as identification, physiography, geology, aquifer description and properties, water balance, groundwater use and risk. It features numerical values or a general description when no values are available. The description can also be used to add context to the numerical values. For each property, metadata identifying the source of the original data, links to similar data in GIN, and description of the processes, algorithms or methodology used to obtain these datasets will be available to complement the data. This dataset is designed to capture and represent a set of synthesized information pertaining to hydrogeological units through maps and succinct table reports. Some attributes (or properties) of the dataset are irrelevant depending of the rank of the unit. In general, this dataset is organised to include multiple properties associated with aquifers and larger hydrogeologic units. These properties are grouped into categories, which include identification, physiography, geology, aquifer description, water balance, groundwater use and risk. The numerical values associated with each of the properties can be used to create thematic maps; hence, the importance of using standardized units of measurement and definitions for these properties. When numerical values are not available, a general description may be supplied instead. The description can also be used to add context to the numerical values. Because this dataset is the cornerstone of the national view on groundwater, supplemental contextual information (metadata) must be part of the data. Thus, for each property, metadata identifying the source of the original data, links to similar data in GIN, and a description of the processes, algorithms or methodology used to obtain these datasets will be available to complement the data.