Mike Major – NRCanDouglas Stiff – ECCC

Sue Buto – USGS

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data Harmonization

Project Overview and Status

North American National Mapping MeetingMay 9, 2018Reston, VA

• Prior to 2008 both U.S. and Canadian hydrographic data often did not extend across the international border making hydrographic and hydrologic analysis difficult if not impossible.

Prior to 2008 U.S. hydrography truncated at the international border.

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationAn Absence of Seamless Data

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationInternational Joint Commission (IJC)

International Watershed Initiative andHydrographic Data Harmonization

International Watersheds Initiative

(IWI)1997

Promotes a watershed approach

to the study and management of

shared water resources

Development of River Boards along the

international border

Transboundary Hydrographic Data Harmonization Task

Force2008

Provide seamless and interoperable hydrographic

geospatial data

Strengthen and formalize federal, regional and local

stakeholder participation and

awareness

International Drainage Area Harmonization

Group:

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

International Hydrographic

Harmonization Group

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

1909

MICHAEL LAITTA, International Joint Commission, Washington D.C.PETER STEEVES, US Geological Survey, Massachusetts

KIMBERLY JONES, US Geological Survey, UtahSUSAN BUTO, US Geological Survey, Nevada

JUDY KWAN, Environment and Climate Change Canada, British Columbia

TOMMY DIEP, Environment and Climate Change Canada, British ColumbiaMIKE MAJOR, Natural Resources Canada, Quebec

LUCIE MATHIEU, Natural Resources Canada, Quebec

THOMAS DABOLT, US Department of the Interior

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationTask Force

Beyond the data, data harmonization requires coordination

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationPartners

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationPartners

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationThe “Swath”

• Canada and the U.S. share ~ 5,500 miles of border.• ~40% of this is made of up shared lakes and rivers.

The area of focus for the data harmonization effort is represented by the colored hydrologic units. The total contributing area is shown by the grey polygons.

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Estimated partner contributions

Work planned in phases:

• Phase I – Matching and reconciliation of the larger transboundary hydrologic units (US 8-digit) – Complete

• Phase II – Reconciling the hydrography datasets within the phase I transboundary hydrologic units – Complete

• Phase III/IV – Delineating, coding, and naming smaller nested hydrologic units within the larger transboundary units (US 10- and 12-digit) – In-Progress

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationPhased approach

Phase I - THE SWATH

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationStatus

• Matching and reconciliation of U.S. Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) 8-digit hydrologic units with Canada’s 4th level Sub-sub-drainage areas (SSDA)

• Status: Phase I has been completed and are available to the public via the U.S. Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)

• Ongoing updates and changes are managed through maintenance and stewardship

232 transboundary 8-digit equivalent hydrologic units.

Phase II - HYDROGRAPHY

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationStatus

• Connecting, synchronizing and cross-stepping the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) with the Canadian National Hydro Network (NHN)

• Status: Phase II has been completed and are available to the public via the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) and Canada National Hydro Network (NHN)

• Ongoing updates and changes are managed through maintenance and stewardship

Over 1 million flowlines (streams, rivers, canals, etc.)Over 380,000 waterbodies

Phase III and IV - NESTED HYDROLOGIC UNITS

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationStatus

• Phase III - Creating new higher resolution “harmonized” Drainage Areas at the U.S. WBD 10- and 12-digit hydrologic unit level (which will be two new drainage area levels in Canada)

• Phase IV - Assigning hydrographic names and codes (attribution) to Phase III new higher resolution drainage areas

• Status: In work

>10,000 smaller nested hydrologic units

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Phase III/IV Status

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationStatus

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationBeyond the “Swath”

Addition of contributing areas in Canada

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationExpanding beyond the “Swath”

Addition of contributing areas fully within Canada to the harmonized data allows for ‘global’ analysis and more applications

Seamless foundational hydrography data spanning the international border supports integrated, bi-national water modeling, analysis, and management

Harmonization of hydraulic and hydrologic modeling and water quality infrastructure

• Flood forecasts• Water quality analysis and models• Water quantity and water use evaluations• Water management

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Seamless hydrography data provides a complete picture of the hydrologic network and ability to trace the network across the international boundary

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationOutcomes

Transboundary water quality models (SPARROW)

• Red‒AssiniboineNutrients – Completed

• Great Lakes Nutrients – Ongoing

Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationOutcomes

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationOutcomes

Transboundary NHDPlus HR (Beta) data for Lake Champlain – Richelieu River

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data HarmonizationOutcomes

Rainy River and Lake of the Woods transboundary StreamStats

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Canada – U.S. Hydrographic Data Harmonization

This would be better with a nice photo!