Description
The USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) Downloadable Data Collection from The National Map (TNM) is a comprehensive set of digital spatial data that encodes information about naturally occurring and constructed bodies of surface water (lakes, ponds, and reservoirs), paths through which water flows (canals, ditches, streams, and rivers), and related entities such as point features (springs, wells, stream gages, and dams). The information encoded about these features includes classification and other characteristics, delineation, geographic name, position and related measures, a "reach code" through which other information can be related to the NHD, and the direction of water flow. The network of reach codes delineating water and transported material flow allows users to trace movement in upstream and downstream directions. In addition to this geographic information, the dataset contains metadata that supports the exchange of future updates and improvements to the data. The NHD supports many applications, such as making maps, geocoding observations, flow modeling, data maintenance, and stewardship. For additional information on NHD, go to https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/national-hydrography.
DWR was the steward for NHD and Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) in California. We worked with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. California's NHD improvements were sent to USGS for incorporation into the national database. The most up-to-date products are accessible from the USGS website. Please note that the California portion of the National Hydrography Dataset is appropriate for use at the 1:24,000 scale.
For additional derivative products and resources, including the major features in geopackage format, please go to this page: https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-major-features
Archives of previous statewide extracts of the NHD going back to 2018 may be found at https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/nhd-archive.
In September 2022, USGS officially notified DWR that the NHD would become static as USGS resources will be devoted to the transition to the new 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP). 3DHP will consist of LiDAR-derived hydrography at a higher resolution than NHD. Upon completion, 3DHP data will be easier to maintain, based on a modern data model and architecture, and better meet the requirements of users that were documented in the Hydrography Requirements and Benefits Study (2016). The initial releases of 3DHP will be the NHD data cross-walked into the 3DHP data model. It will take several years for the 3DHP to be built out for California. Please refer to the resources on this page for more information.
The FINAL,STATIC version of the National Hydrography Dataset for California was published for download by USGS on December 27, 2023. This dataset can no longer be edited by the state stewards.
The first public release of the 3D Hydrography Program map service may be accessed at https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/3DHP_all/MapServer.
Questions about the California stewardship of these datasets may be directed to nhd_stewardship@water.ca.gov.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| The National Map Services | ArcGIS GeoServices REST API | USGS National Map publishes 44 services including overlays of the National Hydrography Dataset, NHDPlus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR), the Watershed Boundary Dataset, and a USGS 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) map service. | Open resource |
| NHD Stewardship Reports to the California Geographic Information Association Community Council | Unknown | The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is the authoritative surface water component of California's spatial data infrastructure. Reports on the progress of the NHD Stewardship Program are posted four times each year on the CGIA Community Council's website. Questions or comments may be directed to the lead steward: Jane.Schafer-Kramer@water.ca.gov. | Open resource |
| NHD Data Model v2.3 Poster | A pdf intended for poster-sized printing that provides a graphical depiction of the geodatabase schema for the current version of the National Hydrography Dataset, provided by USGS. | Open resource | |
| NHD Major Rivers Geopackage | ZIP | Major Rivers in California selected from the NHD in a geopackage format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024.This is the final version. The NHD is now a static dataset Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/MapServer Selecting Only Major Rivers in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection. We will continue to update this data as USGS releases new versions of the NHD.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. To be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artificial Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs”of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 1. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. 12. Select only those features with "River" in the GNIS Name. Note: This workflow omits the American River. It has been manually added to this dataset. | Open resource |
| NHD Major Lakes and Reservoirs Geodatabase | ZIP | Major lakes and reservoirs in California selected from the NHD in a zipped shapefile format. Developed for use as a cartographic aid at smaller scales. The features for this dataset were selected from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) based primarily on size. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer may be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/MapServer Data were originally developed and supplied by USGS, and last updated on February 20, 2020. Data was downloaded from USGS National Map Staged Products Directory (http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/) on March 3rd, 2022. In order to display only major lakes and reservoirs, the following definition query was applied to the NHDWaterbody feature class. (FType = 390 And AreaSqKm > 5) Or (FType = 436 And AreaSqKm > 5 And Permanent_Identifier <> 'fa567cba-b37b-48b7-99d8-bd72a110fdbe' And Permanent_Identifier <> 'c5cae0f8-7d44-4149-b7ef-1b5197adc5a0' And Permanent_Identifier <> '120012522') Or GNIS_Name = 'Elderberry Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Castaic Lagoon' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27088117' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27822760' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Diversion Pool' Or GNIS_Name = 'Los Banos Reservoir' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Piru' Or GNIS_Name = 'Pyramid Lake' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Natoma' | Open resource |
| NHD Major Lakes and Reservoirs Geopackage | ZIP | Major lakes and reservoirs in California selected from the NHD in a geopackage format. Developed for use as a cartographic aid at smaller scales. The features for this dataset were selected from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) based on size, not on importance to any particular agency. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer may be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/MapServer Data were originally developed and supplied by USGS, and last updated on February 20, 2020. Data was downloaded from USGS National Map Staged Products Directory (http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/) on March 3rd, 2022. In order to display only major lakes and reservoirs, the following definition query was applied to the NHDWaterbody feature class. (FType = 390 And AreaSqKm > 5) Or (FType = 436 And AreaSqKm > 5 And Permanent_Identifier <> 'fa567cba-b37b-48b7-99d8-bd72a110fdbe' And Permanent_Identifier <> 'c5cae0f8-7d44-4149-b7ef-1b5197adc5a0' And Permanent_Identifier <> '120012522') Or GNIS_Name = 'Elderberry Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Castaic Lagoon' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27088117' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27822760' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Diversion Pool' Or GNIS_Name = 'Los Banos Reservoir' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Piru' Or GNIS_Name = 'Pyramid Lake' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Natoma' | Open resource |
| NHD Major Rivers Shapefile | ZIP | Major Rivers in California selected from the NHD in a zipped shapefile format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/MapServer Shapefiles include a .csv with the Ftype code descriptors. These descriptors can be joined to the shapefile via a join on the code field. Selecting Only Major Rivers in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection. We will continue to update this data as USGS releases new versions of the NHD.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. To be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artificial Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs”of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 1. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. 12. Select only those features with "River" in the GNIS Name. Note: This workout omits the American River. It has been manually added to this dataset. | Open resource |
| Reference Data Used in Updating the California NHD | CSV | This is a spreadsheet used to record the datasets used for reference in the updating of the California portion of the NHD. The NHD Stewardship Program is constantly seeking new sources of local knowledge to help improve this data. To contribute to this effort, please contact the lead steward at nhd_stewardship@water.ca.gov | Open resource |
| NHD Major Rivers and Creeks Shapefile | ZIP | Major Rivers and Creeks in California selected from the NHD in a zipped shapefile format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/FeatureServer/ https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/MapServer Shapefile includes a .csv file with the Ftype descriptors, these can be added via a join on the Ftype code. Selecting Only Major Rivers and Creeks in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. See: ftp://nhdftp.usgs.gov/Hydro_Images/BlueRiver_Named_Rivers.jpgTo be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artificial Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs” of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 11. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. Note: This workflow excludes the American River, so it has been manually added into the dataset. | Open resource |
| NHD Major Rivers Geodatabase | ZIP | Major Rivers in California selected from the NHD in a zipped shapefile format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers/MapServer Selecting Only Major Rivers in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection. We will continue to update this data as USGS releases new versions of the NHD.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. To be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artificial Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs”of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 1. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. 12. Select only those features with "River" in the GNIS Name. Note: This workout omits the American River. It has been manually added to this dataset. | Open resource |
| Memorandum of Understanding between USGS and DWR | Document: The Memorandum of Understanding between the United States Department of the Interior United States Geological Survey and the California Department of Water Resources for the Stewardship of the National Hydrography Dataset and Watershed Boundary Dataset in California | Open resource | |
| USGS Letter re: End of NHD Editing | DWR received this letter on September 30, 2022 from the Director of the USGS National Geospatial Program informing DWR that editing of the NHD will cease and the dataset will become static in 2023. USGS will shift its focus to the next generation of hydrography data, the 3D Hydrography Program. | Open resource | |
| NEW! CDEC Flow Stations with NHD Attributes | ZIP | This zipped file geodatabase contains two feature classes for use in a GIS. California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) is managed by the Department of Water Resources. CDEC provides users access to hydrologic and climate information used to support real-time flood management and water supply needs in California. CDEC flow gaging station locations (points) were added to the NHDPoint feature class of the National Hydrography Dataset by the California NHD stewardship team. One of the feature classes in this file geodatabase is a derivative of the NHDPoint feature class, containing only the CDEC flow gaging station points with attributes from CDEC included. The other feature class represents the station points snapped to NHDFlowlines to aid in flow analysis. | Open resource |
| Hydrography Data Stewardship: Transitioning to the 3D Hydrography Program | Slides from the presentation at the Esri Pacific User Conference, Sacramento, November 16, 2022 | Open resource | |
| Elevation-Derived Hydrography Challenges and Solutions, July 2023 | Presentation slides explaining the status of California Department of Water Resources' efforts at creating hydrography data that will be compliant with US Geological Survey standards for the 3D Hydrography Program. This was presented by Joel Osuna-Williams and Erik Fintel at the 2023 Esri User Conference. This was created in PowerPoint and converted to an annotated pdf. | Open resource | |
| California Business Rules for Updating the National Hydrography Dataset, 2021 update | This document describes the rules that our editors of California's portion of the NHD should follow. These rules were written for editing work for the 1:24,000 scale NHD. The authors are Erik Fintel of the California State University, Chico Center for Geographical Studies, and Joel Osuna-Williams of the California State University, Northridge Center for Geospatial Science and Technology. Please direct questions to the lead steward for the California NHD at Jane.Schafer-Kramer@water.ca.gov | Open resource | |
| NHD Major Lakes and Reservoirs Shapefile | ZIP | Major lakes and reservoirs in California selected from the NHD in a zipped shapefile format. Developed for use as a cartographic aid at smaller scales. The features for this dataset were selected from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) based on size, not on importance to any particular agency. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Shapefiles include a .csv with the Ftype code descriptors. These descriptors can be joined to the shapefile via a join on the code field. Services for this layer may be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/FeatureServer https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Lakes_and_Reservoirs/MapServer Data were originally developed and supplied by USGS, and last updated on February 20, 2020. Data was downloaded from USGS National Map Staged Products Directory (http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/http://prd-tnm.s3-website-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/?prefix=StagedProducts/Hydrography/NHD/State/HighResolution/GDB/) on March 3rd, 2022. In order to display only major lakes and reservoirs, the following definition query was applied to the NHDWaterbody feature class. (FType = 390 And AreaSqKm > 5) Or (FType = 436 And AreaSqKm > 5 And Permanent_Identifier <> 'fa567cba-b37b-48b7-99d8-bd72a110fdbe' And Permanent_Identifier <> 'c5cae0f8-7d44-4149-b7ef-1b5197adc5a0' And Permanent_Identifier <> '120012522') Or GNIS_Name = 'Elderberry Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Castaic Lagoon' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27088117' Or Permanent_Identifier = '27822760' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Diversion Pool' Or GNIS_Name = 'Los Banos Reservoir' Or GNIS_Name = 'Thermalito Forebay' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Piru' Or GNIS_Name = 'Pyramid Lake' Or GNIS_Name = 'Lake Natoma' | Open resource |
| NHD Major Rivers and Creeks Geopackage | ZIP | Major Rivers and Creeks in California selected from the NHD in a geopackage format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/FeatureServer/ https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/MapServer Selecting Only Major Rivers and Creeks in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection. We will continue to update this data as USGS releases new versions of the NHD.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. See: ftp://nhdftp.usgs.gov/Hydro_Images/BlueRiver_Named_Rivers.jpgTo be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artifical Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs”of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 11. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. Note: This workflow excludes the American River, so it has been manually added into the dataset. | Open resource |
| NHD Major Rivers and Creeks Geodatabase | ZIP | Major Rivers and Creeks in California selected from the NHD in a zipped geodatabase format. Resource last updated 1/30/2024. This is the final version, as the NHD is no longer being updated. Services for this layer can be found at: https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/FeatureServer\ https://gis.water.ca.gov/arcgis/rest/services/InlandWaters/NHD_Major_Rivers_and_Creeks/MapServer Selecting Only Major Rivers and Creeks in the NHD using ArcMap - from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 8, June 2014, by Jeff Simley, USGS **Please note that this data is only as complete as the NHD, and there are connectivity issues associated with this method of selection.** The NHD contains a lot of information, but for some applications, particularly those at small scales, it needs to be generalized. One approach is to show only “major rivers” in the NHD. A quick technique to show only the named rivers can easily be done by selecting NHDFlowline GNIS_NAME > ‘0’. See: ftp://nhdftp.usgs.gov/Hydro_Images/BlueRiver_Named_Rivers.jpgTo be even more restrictive, major rivers can be defined as only “double-line” or polygonal rivers, which appear in NHDArea. This is more complicated, and takes a few minutes, but works well. This approach finds the Artifical Path of those polygonal rivers: 1. Find the polygonal rivers: Select by Attributes NHDArea where FType = 460 - Stream/River. 2. Now it is necessary to find the NHDFlowline Artificial Paths of those rivers. Artificial Paths are linked to the polygon they are inside of using the field WBArea_Permanent_Identier. Create the link by doing a relate between NHDFlowline (key WBArea_Permanent_Identifier) and NHDArea (key Permanent_Identifier) 3. Invoke the relationship and select the corresponding NHDFlowlines. 4. For clarity, turn off the NHDArea selected features (the polygonal rivers). 5. Now the candidate artificial paths are selected, but there are two problems: One is that the rivers running through lakes are not selected (which they should be), and two, the “stubs”of the tributary artificial paths have been selected (which are not wanted). 6. Next order of business is to eliminate the minor stubs with no name. Select from selection by Attributes NHDFlowline GNIS_Name > ‘0’. Now only stubs that are named remain. 7. Some of the remaining candidate artificial paths are wanted (the major rivers) and some are not (the named stubs). The named stubs can be eliminated by virtue of the fact that there are very few of them (normally one record per name) and those with low counts can be eliminated. 8. Open the NHDFlowline attribute table. Some records are selected (the remaining candidate list) and some are not (all other flowlines making up “minor rivers”). Summarize the number of records under the field GNIS_Name and write this out as Sum_Output.dbf which you then add to ArcMap. 9. Now the goal is to find the names of the major rivers. These will be rivers with a record count greater than 1. The extraneous non-named stubs have already been eliminated, which helps reduce the load. The next steps will select only records with significant counts, that is, the major rivers. This will allow deselecting the remaining NHDFlowlines and in the process eliminate the named stubs. 10. It is necessary to relate Sum_Output (key GNIS_Name) with NHDFlowline (key GNIS_Name) to make it possible to use the GNIS_NAME’s to select the major rivers in NHDFlowline. 11. Open the Sum_Output table. Note the field Count_GNIS_Name which will be used to count records. This will eliminate named stubs, leaving just the major rivers selected. Create a New Selection, Cnt_GNIS_N > 1. Leave the table open. Note major rivers are selected.Invoke the relationship to select the major rivers. In ArcMap all “major rivers” have been selected, even rivers through lakes. Note: This workflow excludes the American River, so it has been manually added into the dataset. | Open resource |
| National Hydrography Overlay Map Service (ArcGIS) | ArcGIS GeoServices REST API | An ArcGIS overlay map mervice for visualizing hydrographic | Open resource |
| USGS - NHD Staged Products Directory | Unknown | There a various ways to access the NHD data products. If you know the hydrologic unit code for your area of interest you may find it easier to download datasets by link to the amazon cloud site. This directory enables access to the NHD, NHD Plus High Resolution (NHDPlusHR), and the WBD. | Open resource |
| California NHD Stewardship Website | Unknown | DWR is the steward for NHD and Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD ) in California. We work with other organizations to edit and improve NHD and WBD, using the business rules for California. Visit the California NHD Stewardship page at https://water.ca.gov/Programs/All-Programs/National-Hydrography-Dataset-Stewardship | Open resource |
| USGS 3D Hydrography Program | Unknown | The implementation of 3D National Hydrography Program (3DHP) marks the start of a new era of water data - the first systematic remapping of the Nation’s hydrography since the original USGS 1:24,000-scale topographic mapping program was active. Community-wide coordinated investments will contribute toward a consistent set of national water data to answer the most demanding water resource questions. | Open resource |
| How to Use the NHD Visibility Filter in a GIS | Unknown | The NHDFlowline feature class of the NHD now has an attribute field name VisibilityFilter which allows for filtering of these vector data features at eight approximate scales.This is a convenient way to "thin" the density of the flowline features for cartography and for analysis. For more information and instructions on using this filter in Esri's ArcGIS, please visit the USGS website at the above link. | Open resource |
| USGS National Hydrography Website | Unknown | Open resource | |
| USGS 3D Hydrography Program | Unknown | This is the USGS website with information about the new 3D Hydrography Program (3DHP) that will replace the National Hydrography Dataset, the Watershed Boundary Dataset, and NHDPlus High Resolution. | Open resource |
| 3D Hydrography Program Products: 3DHP_all 2023 Service Specification | U.S. Geological Survey | Unknown | 3D Hydrography Program service description, data dictionary, and notes from USGS | Open resource |
| NHD Data Dictionary | Unknown | Descriptions of attributes of NHD Feature Classes, Feature Domains, Reachcode Tables, Metadata Tables, Flowline value Added Attributes (VAA) Table, and Miscellaneous Tables | Open resource |
| Download Data & Maps from The National Map | Unknown | Interactive application that can be used to download National Hydrography products as well as other component layers of The National Map | Open resource |
| USGS National Hydrography Dataset Newsletter | Unknown | Issues include the latest dataset updates, tips & tricks, upcoming training and meetings, general announcements and more of the nation's surface water and hydrologic geospatial datasets: the National Hydrography Dataset, Watershed Boundary Dataset, and NHDPlus High Resolution. Engage with us and others in the Hydrography community by subscribing and share your best surface water photos! | Open resource |
| National Hydrography Dataset Playlist on YouTube | Unknown | A collection of recordings of presentations and meetings by U.S. Geological Survey on the National Hydrography Dataset and related data products and tools as hosted on the USGS channel on YouTube. | Open resource |
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