Groundwater Mapping Program

Program Manager: Alfonso Rivera

Groundwater is important to health, economy and ecosystems in Canada. It provides drinking water to about one third of all Canadians and up to 80% of the rural population. It has been routinely surveyed since early last century, yet groundwater has not been mapped in a systematic way across the country. The NRCan Groundwater Mapping program, a current federal groundwater initiative, aims to establish a conceptual framework of national, regional and watershed-scale groundwater flow systems.

Key Aquifers and Hydrogeological Regions of Canada

The nine hydrogeological regions include:

Key Aquifers and Hydrogeological Regions of Canada

Key Aquifers and Hydrogeological Regions of Canada

The nine hydrogeological regions include:

Cordillera: Mountains with thin sediment over fractured sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks of PreCambrian to Cenozoic age. Intermontane valleys are underlain by glacial and alluvial deposits of Pleistocene age.

Western Canada Sedimentary Basin: Region-wide basin of sub-horizontal Paleozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary rocks are overlain by thick glacial deposits filling buried valleys. Incised post-glacial valleys provide local relief. Shallow gas, coal, and brines may occur.

Canadian Shield: Undulating region of thin glacial sediment overlying complex deformed, fractured PreCambrian igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. Region contains several terrains: sedimentary basins, structural belts, and glacial-lacustrine basins.

Hudson Bay Basin: Sedimentary basin of Paleozoic to Mesozoic subhorizontal carbonate and clastic sediment covered by surficial deposits, with low relief and poor drainage.

Southern Ontario Lowlands: Eastern Great Lakes region is underlain by gently-dipping Paleozoic, carbonate, clastic and gypsum-salt strata overlain by glacial sediments up to 200 m thick with tunnel valleys. Karst, bedrock valleys, shallow gas and brines are also important components.

St. Lawrence Lowlands: Lowlands underlain by shallow-dipping Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and thick glacial sediment in glacial-marine basins. Appalachian and PreCambrian uplands discharge water to valleys. Shallow gas and saltwater intrusion are possible.

Appalachian Mountains: Upland to mountainous region with thin surficial sediment on folded Palaeozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks. Range of rock types yields a wide range of water compositions. Valleys contain important alluvial aquifers.

Maritimes Basin: Lowlands with flat-lying, Carboniferous clastic , salt, and gypsum rocks contain shallow coal deposits. Surface glacial sediment is thin and discontinuous. Salt water intrusion is possible.

Permafrost: Arctic islands and most areas north of 60° contain frozen ground affects on groundwater flow. Diverse topography and geology define sub-regions of sedimentary basins and crystalline rocks. Glacial sediment is thin, discontinuous; local peat accumulations are significant.


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Key Aquifers
Region Aquifer ID on map Province Size Usage Status Risk
Cordillera Gulf Islands fractured aquifers 1 BC 475km2 D Completed GP, C
  Nanaimo Lowland 2 BC   D, A    
  Fraser Lowlands 3 BC   D, A Completed  
  Okanagan Valley 4 BC 1000 km2 (CAN) D Underway GP, A
  Shushwap Highlands 5     D    
Western Plains Paskapoo 6 AB 70000 km2 D, E, A, I Underway GP, E, A, I, G
  buried valley/blanket aquifers 7 AB, SK, MB   D, E, I    
  Upper Cretaceous sands 8 AB,SK   D, A    
  Milk River 9 AB   D, A    
  Judith River 10 SK, AB   D, A    
  Eastend-Ravenscrag 11 SK   D, A    
  Inter-till aquifers 12 AB, SK, MB   D, A    
  Carbonate rock 13 MB   D    
  Basal Clastic Unit (Winnipeg) 14 MB   D, I Completed  
  Odanah shale 15 MB   D    
  Sandilands 16 MB 400 km2 D Underway GP, A
  Assiniboine delta 17 MB   D    
Southern Ontario Oak Ridges Moraine [1] 18 ON 2500 km2 D, I Completed GP, I
  Grand River Basin 19 ON   D    
  Credit River 20 ON   D    
  Waterloo Moraine 21 ON   D    
  Upper Thames 22 ON   D    
Maritimes Basin Annapolis-Cornwallis valleys 23 NS 2600 km2 D, A Completed GP, A
  Carboniferous basin 24 PEI, NB, NS 11000 km2 D, A Completed GP, A
St. Lawrence Lowlands and Appalachia Mirabel 25 QC 1500 km2 D, A, I Completed GP, A, I
  Châteauguay 26 QC 1450 km2 (CAN), 1200 km2 (USA) D, A, I Completed A, I
  Richelieu 27 QC   D, A A  
  Chaudière 28 QC   D, A, I A  
  Maurice 29 QC   D, I    
  Portneuf 30 QC 525 km2 D, A Completed  
Usages = Domestic (D), Agriculture (A), Energy (E), Industry (I)
Risks = Growing Population (GP), Agriculture (A), Industry (I), Energy (E), Contamination (C), Geothermal Energy (G)
Note: blank cells denote unknown information

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Project Highlights (2003-2009)

Project J01 - Groundwater Knowledge synthesis and Program Management

Project J02 - National Groundwater Database, Outreach and Monitoring

Project J03 - Assessment of Regional Aquifers: Towards a National Inventory

Project J04 - Thematic Groundwater Research

Project J05 - Remote sensing in support of groundwater monitoring and vulnerability assessment

Project J06 - Groundwater Inventory: aquifer systems in Canada

Project J07 - Groundwater Pathways, Database, Information Transfer

Project J08 - Groundwater Earth Observation and Thematic Research