Water

Fresh water across Canada — its major lakes, rivers, and watersheds

A country of fresh water

Canada holds close to 20% of the world’s fresh water and more lake area than any other country on Earth. The map below highlights the 40 largest lakes and rivers, shaded by surface area: - the shared Great Lakes along the southern border, - the great northern lakes: Great Bear and Great Slave in the Northwest Territories, and - the Athabasca, Winnipeg, and Reindeer lakes across the Prairies and Canadian Shield.

The three largest rivers in the set — the Mackenzie, Yukon, and Peace — are drawn in a flat blue, so they read as flowing water. Hover any feature for its name and surface area; zoom and pan to explore.

Where the water goes

Watersheds are natural ecological and physical boundaries. Most rain or snow in Canada eventually drains toward one of five destinations: the Pacific, the Arctic, Hudson Bay, the Atlantic, or the Gulf of Mexico. Seen through this lens, the country is organized quite differently from the borders we have drawn ourselves, e.g., the Hudson Bay basin gathers water from Alberta to Quebec. The map groups Statistics Canada’s 25 drainage regions by the ocean each one ultimately reaches, with the major rivers drawn on top so you can trace the actual flow. The Saskatchewan and Nelson Rivers feed into Hudson Bay, the Mackenzie drains north to the Arctic, and the Fraser and Columbia flow to the Pacific.

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