Drainage Basins and River Flow

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a map that shows drainage basins and river flow. The delimited drainage basins cover all Canadian land and fresh water areas. The areas of many drainage basins are written on the map. These areas do not include diversions (thus, the Albany does not include the area of its basin diverted to the St. Lawrence system). As well, the Interior Drainage class is not considered tributary and the areas it covers are not included in the total figure for the Hudson Bay Basin. At 23 selected gauging stations the average discharge in thousands of cubic feet per second is indicated along with the recorded maximum, minimum and average discharge. The data on river flow is derived from gauging station records for periods that vary considerably from river to river. For many rivers accurate data is not available. Two graphs are included, one denoting the areas of principal lakes, and the second showing the lengths of principal rivers.