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Hydrography

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Image:Canadadrainagebasinsmap.jpg

Drainage basins of Canada

Canada holds vast reserves of water: 7% of the world's fresh water, a quarter of humid lands and the third largest amount of glaciers (after Antarctica and Greenland). Due to extensive glaciation, Canada hosts more than two million lakes: of those that entirely within Canada, more than 31,000 are between 3 and 100 square kilometres (1.2 & 38.6 mi²) in area, while 563 are larger than 100 km².

There are 5 main watersheds in Canada: The Arctic watershed, the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Hudson watershed and, due to parts of the Milk River running through Alberta, the Gulf of Mexico watershed.

The Atlantic watershed is mostly drained by the economically important St. Lawrence River and its tributaries, notably the Saguenay, Manicouagan and Outaouais rivers. It drains the entirety of the Atlantic provinces (parts of the Quebec-Labrador boundary are fixed at the Atlantic continental divide), most of inhabitated Quebec and large parts of southern Ontario. The Great Lakes, Lake Nipigon, Churchill River, and St. John River are other important elements of the Atlantic watershed in Canada.

The Hudson Bay watershed drains over a third of Canada. It covers northern Ontario and Quebec, Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan and southern Alberta, southwestern Nunavut and the southern half of Baffin Island. This basin is most important in fighting drought in the prairies and producing hydroelectricity, especially in Manitoba, northern Ontario and Quebec. Major elements of this watershed include Lake Winnipeg, Nelson River, the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers, Assiniboine River and Lake Netiling, on Baffin Island.

The Continental Divide, in the Rockies, separates the Pacific watershed, in British Columbia and Yukon, from the Arctic and Hudson Bay watersheds. This watershed is important for irrigating the rich cultures of inner British Columbia (such as the Okanagan and Kootenay valleys) and producing hydroelectricity. Major elements are the Yukon, Columbia and Fraser River.

Northern parts of Alberta, Manitoba and British Columbia, most of Northwest Territories and Nunavut as well as parts of Yukon are drained by the Arctic watershed. This watershed has been little used for hydroelectricity, with the exception of the Mackenzie River, the longest river of Canada. The Peace, Athabasca River, Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake (respectively the largest and second largest lakes wholly enclosed by Canada) are significant elements of the Arctic watershed. Each of these elements eventually merges with the Mackenzie so that it thereby drains the vast majority of the Arctic watershed.