Ecosystem accounting: Thematic accounts, 1971 to 2014
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Released: 2018-03-16
The average annual water yield for Canada from 1971 to 2014 was 3,497 km3 or 0.35 m3/m2, equivalent to a depth of 350 mm—or just over a foot—right across the country. The Pacific Coastal drainage region in British Columbia had the highest water yield per unit area in the country, at 1.5 m3/m2. The lowest yields were found in the Missouri, Assiniboine–Red, South Saskatchewan and North Saskatchewan drainage regions in the Prairies, which had an average annual water yield per unit area of 0.05 m3/m2.
Annual water yield data for selected drainage regions and for southern Canada from 1971 to 2014, and updated median, minimum and maximum monthly water yield data for selected drainage regions, are now available.
Note to readers
Statistics Canada is updating two CANSIM water tables to provide Canadians with historical context on the volume of Canada's renewable water resources. These data are produced as part of Statistics Canada's thematic ecosystem accounts, as described in Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (16-509-X).
Water yield is the amount of freshwater derived from unregulated flow measurements for a given geographic area over a defined period of time and is an estimate of the renewable water. Water yield also includes a volume of water that is not renewable, specifically that portion of glacial melt water coming from receding glaciers.
For more information on water yield, see the article "Freshwater in Canada" in Human Activity and the Environment (16-201-X) and "The Water Yield for Canada As a Thirty-year Average (1971 to 2000): Concepts, Methodology and Initial Results" in Environment Accounts and Statistics Analytical and Technical Paper Series (16-001-M).
Contact information
For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).
For analytical information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality, contact François Soulard (613-882-8603; francois.soulard@canada.ca), Environment, Energy and Transportation Statistics Division.
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