Text · dataset · 2025
Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)
Listed in California Open Data
The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) from USGS' The National Map (TNM) defines the perimeter of drainage areas formed by the terrain and other landscape characteristics.
Description
The drainage areas are nested within each other so that a large drainage area, such as the Sacramento River, will be composed of multiple smaller drainage areas, such as the Feather River. Each of these smaller areas can further be subdivided into smaller and smaller drainage areas.
The WBD uses six different levels in this hierarchy, with the smallest averaging about 30,000 acres. The WBD is made up of polygons nested into six levels of data respectively defined by Regions, Subregions, Basins, Subbasins, Watersheds, and Subwatersheds. For additional information on the WBD, go to usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset.
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DWR was the steward for NHD and WBD in California. We worked with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. California's WBD improvements are sent to USGS for certification and incorporation to the national geodatabase.
The certified WBD is included within the National Hydrography Dataset downloadable file geodatabase, and is also available in shapefile format and as web map services accessible from the USGS website. (usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/access-national-hydrography-products). The final static version of the WBD was published in January 2025.
No edits to this dataset are being accepted by USGS. Future mapping of drainage areas will be done by USGS as the 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) is built out. DWR and its stewardship partners are actively producing LiDAR-derived hydrography data for inclusion in the California portion of 3DHP data and eventually its companion set of drainage areas.
For now, the WBD is considered the authoritative source for watershed delineations in California.
Links
Get the data
- Publisher page usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography/watershed-bounda… ↗
documentation · download · from data ca gov
- USGS - WBD Direct Download prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts%2FHydrography%2FWBD%2FHU2%2F ↗
download · from data ca gov
- hydro.nationalmap.gov /arcgis/rest/services/wbd/MapServer ↗
National Hydrography Overlay Map Service (ArcGIS)Esri REST
download · from data ca gov
- California WBD Stewardship Website water.ca.gov/Programs/All-Programs/National-Hydrography-Dataset-Stewardship ↗
download · from data ca gov
- WBD_HUC8_CA Feature Service arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=57d8411e2480460b9372637651419f12 ↗
download · from data ca gov
- California WBD Fact Sheet, updated 2019 data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/c1332024-823b-4ac3-9ad9-c96bf1c62d3b/resource/f4a34e92… ↗
download · from data ca gov
- data.cnra.ca.gov /dataset/c1332024-823b-4ac3-9ad9-c96bf1c62d3b/resource/15a3ba87… ↗
Final Letter to MOU Signatories Regarding the California Watershed Map
download · from data ca gov
- Metadata for the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:0101bc32-916e-481d-8654-db7f8509fd0c ↗
download · from data ca gov
Where it is published
- California Open Data dataset page data.ca.gov/dataset/watershed-boundary-dataset-wbd ↗
landing page · from data ca gov
Catalogue records · 1
- CKAN API data.ca.gov/api/3/action/package_show?id=291014be-00ae-4811-8dcd-dc87313ff… ↗
metadata API · from data ca gov
Topics
- Stated by source
- Natural Resources · Water
- From keywords
- Earth & Environmental Science
- Inferred from text
- Hydrology 71%
Provenance · 1 source records, 11 field assertions
| Source | Key | Last seen | Raw |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Open Data | 291014be-00ae-4811-8dcd-dc87313ffd6a | 12 d ago | JSON v1 |
| Field | Assertion | Extractor | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| access_level | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[field].anzsrc:group:3707 | enrichment · data ca gov | taxonomy-embedding@1.1.0 | title+keywords+description (71%) |
| concepts[field].local:field:earth-environmental | mapping · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[topic].ckan_group:data_ca_gov:natural-resources | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| concepts[topic].ckan_group:data_ca_gov:water | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| created_date | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| description | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | /notes |
| license_text | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| publication_date | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | |
| title | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 | /title |
| updated_date | source · data ca gov | connector:data_ca_gov@1.0.0 |