Lake Winnipeg Watershed
A watershed is an area where all the water on the surface or underground flows. Watersheds are often made of rivers, lakes, or oceans, such as the Lake Winnipeg watershed. All the rainwater or snow moves across the landscape, flowing from higher points to lower points. ​As water flows downward, it fills creeks and streams until it eventually reaches lakes on its final journey to the ocean.
Lake Winnipeg Watershed
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Home to almost seven million people.
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About 40 times larger than Lake Winnipeg.
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The second-largest watershed in Canada and one of the world's largest watersheds.
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The Lake Winnipeg watershed includes water from the Rocky Mountains glaciers, which flows into Lake Winnipeg on its way to Hudson Bay and out to the ocean.
Imagine that your bathtub is a watershed, and the drain is a river. All the water that falls inside the tub will eventually go down the drain. Like the water in our bathtubs, water flowing to our lakes also carries things it has picked up along the way, like dirt, excess nutrients and trash.
Watersheds provide us with water for drinking, soil to grow our food, and waterways for fishing, boating, and swimming. Water enters the watershed as rain or snowmelt. It soaks into the ground, replenishing underground water sources and gathering in wetlands, ponds and creeks that feed vast streams and rivers.
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A healthy watershed acts like a sponge, absorbing, storing, filtering and slowly releasing water back into the landscape. We all share the benefits of having a healthy watershed.​​
