At a national scale, we lack a clear understanding of the health of our rivers and watersheds, and accessing that information is a challenge. Our team is immersed in analyzing millions of data points to provide you with crucial insights.
Tell me more...What are the Watershed Reports?
The Watershed Reports are the first national-scale assessment of the state of freshwater in Canada. It includes data collected by governments researchers and community-based monitoring groups. The first two editions were published in 2017-2020 by WWF-Canada. Water Rangers will be publishing the third edition in the Spring of 2025.
The Watershed Reports are a collaborative effort. We would love you to be part of their development! Give us your opinions about Canada's freshwater, open data and Watershed Reports.
Dive deeper...My hope is that the wider public realizes what a finite resource fresh water is and they incorporate a holistic / First Nations mindset: all our actions are connected and our lives depend on the health of our planet. Water is for everyone and needs to be responsibly looked after by all.
One of the responses from the survey. A full sentiment report will be published alongside the data-driven version
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60000000+
Datapoints crunched (so far) -
8500+
Named rivers and streams -
167+
Subwatersheds analyzed
What to expect from the Watershed Reports
The Reports are a zoomed-out way to understand water health. Health is assessed on:
- Water quality
- Water flow
- Invertebrates
- Fish
These Reports will also highlight examples of progress being made, tools on using the reports effectively, plus pathways for organizations and individuals to be part of progress.
Distribution of datasets (%)
It's not just the Reports!
Beyond our technical reports, we're also curating tools for you, such as:
- Guides and examples on how to use the Reports
- Data sources with links to data providers
- Standard Guidelines (e.g. Water Quality CCME, Provincial)
- Inspirational case studies
- Educational resources
- Guide for ensuring high data quality
- Data and good open data practices
- Guide on contributing to the Reports
- The "Business Case" toolkit for water data programs
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Created by WWF Canada
WWF-Canada published the first edition of the reports in 2017. At the time, 110 out of 167 sub-watersheds lacked enough data to paint a baseline picture of their overall health. That's right- we didn't even have enough data to determine how healthy most of our sub-watersheds were! They republished the Reports in 2020.
Visit WWF Canada -
Published by Water Rangers
Water Rangers is a leader in building tools for Community-Based Water Monitoring. For the past decade, they have supported hundreds of groups in starting or growing their monitoring programs. Water Rangers became the stewards of the Watershed Reports in late 2023. Our team will publish the third edition of the reports in the Spring of 2025.
Visit Water Rangers -
Powered by AquaAction
AquaAction has joined Water Rangers as the exclusive sponsor of the Watershed Reports, and is supporting the transition to the new home, as well as the creation of the 2025 reports. Water Rangers is the first winner of the AquaHacking Challenge, the flagship program of AquaAction.
Visit AquaAction