© Living Lakes Canada / WWF-Canada
THE FACTS
What we know about Canada's water
Human activities are stressing Canada’s watersheds and a lack of comprehensive, open access water data means little to no knowledge of how those threats are impacting watershed health. This data and knowledge will become crucial for making decisions in a warming world.
In 2017, WWF-Canada completed the first-ever national assessment of Canada’s watersheds. We examined four indicators of health and seven indicators of threat to assign overall scores to each watershed. Where there was not enough data available, the watershed was considered data deficient.
WATER HEALTH AT A GLANCE
110/167
sub-watersheds are data deficient
37
sub-watersheds received a less than good flow score
42
sub-watersheds have poor or fair water quality
112
sub-watersheds are data deficient for benthic macro-invertebrates
53/167
sub-watersheds have high or very high threats. Pollution, habitat fragmentation and habitat loss are the most common.
126
sub-watersheds are experiencing moderate or high threats from climate change
See WWF-Canada's Watershed Reports for a complete status report on Canada's freshwater ecosystems.