Polygon layer · Water
Watershed basin map, HUC2 through HUC8
USGS hydrologic unit boundaries — the unit water is actually managed in.
A water right is only as good as the basin it draws from, so the watershed basin map is the unit everything else aggregates to. Two rights with the same priority date behave completely differently if one sits in a basin closed to new appropriation and the other does not.
- Source
- USGS
- Refresh
- Monthly
- Geometry
- Polygon
- Included from
- Free
Why Watershed Basins matters
A water right is only as good as the basin it draws from. Two rights with the same priority date behave completely differently if one sits in a basin that is closed to new appropriation and the other does not. Basins are also the aggregation unit every state agency publishes against, so basin-level analytics are the only apples-to-apples comparison available across state lines.
Questions Watershed Basins answers
- How many rights and how much permitted flow sit in this basin?
- Which subbasins are most heavily appropriated relative to their size?
- Does my parcel and my proposed diversion sit in the same hydrologic unit?
- Which basins are both over-appropriated and in drought this year?
What is in the Watershed Basins data
Coverage: Full western US, nested from HUC2 regions down to HUC8 subbasins. Source dataset: Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), HUC2–HUC8.
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| HUC code | The hydrologic unit code — 2, 4, 6 or 8 digits depending on nesting level. |
| Basin name | Published name of the region, subregion, accounting unit or cataloging unit. |
| Level | Which of the four nesting tiers the polygon belongs to. |
| Area | Drainage area, used to normalize rights-per-basin and stress metrics. |
How we serve Watershed Basins
Boundaries are cached as polygons and joined to water rights by spatial containment, which is what powers basin filters in search and the basin rollups in reports. Note that the upstream WBD MapServer exposes a polyline layer alongside the polygon layers; we bind explicitly to the polygon tiers so basins never render as loose lines.
Watershed basin map — source, refresh and coverage
- Steward
- USGS
- Dataset
- Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), HUC2–HUC8
- Refresh cadence
- Monthly
- Coverage
- Full western US, nested from HUC2 regions down to HUC8 subbasins
- Records
- 297 rows
- Geometry
- Polygon
- Included from
- Free plan
Who uses Watershed Basins
Water Rights Investing
Price seniority, spot the mismatch between paper water and wet water, and find positions before they are listed.
Government & Basin Management
A statewide inventory, live supply monitoring, and a public-facing record without building the platform.
Agriculture & Ranching
Know what your water is worth, how safe it is this year, and what your neighbors hold.
Data Centers & AI Infrastructure
Power, water, fiber and permitting risk for every candidate site — before you send anyone to look at it.
Read Watershed Basins alongside
Water Rights
2.1M+ adjudicated water rights across 17 western states, on one map.
Stream Gauges
Live USGS streamflow — what is physically in the river right now.
Drought Monitor
US Drought Monitor severity by county — the year's supply risk, mapped.
Groundwater Wells
Well locations and depth records where the aquifer is the real supply.
Terms used on this page
See Watershed Basins on the map
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