K. Van Wilson, Jr, Michael G. Clair II, D. Phil Turnipseed, and Richard A. Rebich
2008
wbdhu12_a_ms
vector digital data
http://www.ncgc.nrcs.usda.gov/products/datasets/watershed
wbdhu12_a_ms
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality,
A watershed approach to investigations and management of water resources requires mapping of appropriate level
Linework reshapes based on 1:24,000 DRGs required to bring to NSSDA standard were completed in July 2008. During this
work, some revisions beyond just reshaping were required.
USGS will publish these data in 2008 in the following two approved publications that are currently in preparation:
Wilson, K.V., Jr., Clair, M.G., II, Turnipseed, D.P., and Rebich, R.A., Development of a watershed boundary dataset
for Mississippi: U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2008-1198, xx p.
Wilson, K.V., Jr., Clair, M.G., II, Turnipseed, D.P., and Rebich, R.A., Watershed boundary dataset for Mississippi:
U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3020: Scale 1:500,000.
U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Mississippi Department of Transportation,
U.S. Department of Agriculture-Forest Service, and the Mississippi Automated Resource Information System developed a
1:24,000-scale Watershed Boundary Dataset for Mississippi including watershed and subwatershed boundaries, codes, names,
and areas. The Watershed Boundary Dataset for Mississippi provides a standard geographical framework for water-resources
and selected land-resources planning. The original 8-digit subbasins (Hydrologic Unit Codes) were further subdivided
into 10-digit watersheds and 12-digit subwatersheds - the exceptions are the Delta part of Mississippi and the
Mississippi River inside levees, which were only subdivided into 10-digit watersheds. Also, large water bodies in the
Mississippi Sound along the coast were not delineated as small as a typical 12-digit subwatershed. All of the data--
including watershed and subwatershed boundaries, subdivision codes and names, and drainage-area data--are stored in a
Information System database.
hydrologic unit boundaries. The purpose of the hydrologic unit coverage is to provide and accurate, standardized GIS
coverage of watershed boundaries through the fifth and sixth (10 and 12 digit) hydrologic unit scale using nationally
accepted, consistent methods.
en
of appropriate/inappropriate uses described in this metadata document. It is strongly recommended that this
en
2008
publication date
As needed and as funding is available.
-91.684321
-87.201989
37.121840
29.291102
-91.684321
-87.201989
29.291102
37.121840
None
Hydrologic Units
Hydrologic Unit Code
Region
Sub-region
Basin
Sub-basin
Watershed
Watershed Boundaries
boundaries
Subwatershed
WBD
Watershed Boundary Dataset
None
Mississippi
Alabama
Tennessee
Arkansas
Louisiana
None
The distributor shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of this data, based on the
U.S. Geological Survey Mississippi Water Science Center
K. Van Wilson
Hydrologist, P.E.
mailing and physical address
308 South Airport Road
Jackson
MS
39208
USA
601-933-2922
601-933-2901
kvwilson@usgs.gov
8:00a - 4:30p Central, M-F
ESRI ArcCatalog 9.3.1.3000
data is directly acquired from the distributor and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data
in some way. These data should not be used at scales greater than 1:24,000 for the purpose of identifying hydrographic
watershed boundary feature locations in Mississippi. USGS should be acknowledged as the data source in products derived
from these data. The Mississippi Watershed Boundary Dataset is public information and may be interpreted by all
organizations, agencies, units of government, or others based on needs; however, they are responsible for the appropriate
application of the data. Federal, State, or local regulatory bodies are not to reassign to the Natural Resources
Conservation Service any authority for the decisions they make. The Natural Resources Conservation Service will not
perform any evaluations of these maps or purposes related solely to State or local regulatory programs. Photographic or
digital enlargement of these maps to scales greater than that at which they were originally delineated can result in
misrepresentation of the data. If enlarged, the maps will not include the fine detail that would be appropriate for
mapping at the small scale. Digital data files are periodically updated. Files are dated, and users are responsible for
obtaining the latest version of the data from the source distributor.
Shapefile
There are no unclosed polygons, intersections without nodes, or polygons without labels or
USGS
Unknown
USGS topographic quadrangle maps
24000
paper
USGS
Unknown
USGS Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle
online
METHOD OF DIGITIZING PAPER QUADRANGLE MAPS
Boundaries for the watersheds and subwatersheds were based on an existing set of 1:24,000-scale maps that contained
drainage areas previously delineated by USGS personnel as part of ongoing water-resources investigations in the
state. The watershed and subwatershed boundaries were then hand-digitized and processed using Arc/Info 8.3
workstation and stored as Arc/Info coverages. In some cases, 15-minute topographic quadrangles had been used in
the 1970s and 1980s by the USGS to delineate watershed boundaries. During the current project, it was necessary
to transfer watershed and subwatershed boundaries from the 15-minute topographic quadrangles to previously
unavailable 7.5-minute topographic quadrangles prior to digitizing and GIS processing.
Unknown
METHOD OF MISSISSIPPI ALLUVIAL PLAIN DELINEATION
11-digit unit boundaries from the NRCS and an ancillary set of boundaries provided by the U.S. Army of Corps of
Engineers (USCOE) were used as guidance to delineate watershed boundaries for the Delta. The boundaries provided
by the USCOE were based on USGS digital line graphs (DLG). The NRCS and USCOE boundaries were transferred to
1:100,000-scale topographic quadrangle maps, and watershed boundaries were hand-drawn and digitized from those maps.
The new set of watershed boundaries developed from the 1:100,000-scale maps were then transferred to 1:24,000-scale
(or 7.5-minute) topographic quadrangle maps, and were refined and re-digitized according to topographic and
hydrological features at the 1:24,000-scale.
Unknown
METHOD OF COVERAGE CREATION
All coverages were appended together to create a single Arc/Info coverage. The appended coverage was then imported
into the ESRI Geodatabase for editing. Checks were made to make sure that each polygon conformed to size limits
established by NRCS standards. Polygons were assigned a 12-digit number as determined by Mississippi Water Science
Center hydrologists. Attributes were added to the polygon layer to aid in selecting, identifying, and hydrologic
units based on various permutations of the hydrologic unit code.
Unknown
Dataset copied.
withheld
USGS; Mississippi State Steward, Van Wilson: Edits to polygons and linework.
withheld
200905
META_ID: MS02
USGS; Mississippi State Steward, Van Wilson: Edits to polygons and linework; MS03 was used where
a number, name, or line was changed; MS04 was used where only the acres were revised.
withheld
200910
META_ID: MS03
MS04
Metadata imported.
withheld
20100105
13404300
with more than one label.
Vector
Simple
FALSE
0
TRUE
FALSE
Vector
Simple
FALSE
0
TRUE
FALSE
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222
GCS_North_American_1983
0.000100
Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 80
6378137.000000
298.257222
GCS_North_American_1983
0.000100
Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates
MDEQ_Priority_Wa_Dissolved
polygons identify watershed boundaries
n/a
Feature Class
0
Shape
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Coordinates defining the features.
Shape
Geometry
0
0
0
Shape_Length
8
0
0
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
8
Shape_Area
0
0
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
OID
4
OBJECTID
0
0
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
String
254
priority
0
0
String
12
HU_12_DS
0
0
Double
8
Shape_Length
0
0
Double
8
Shape_Area
0
0
HUC_12
String
12
0
0
NCONTRB_A
Double
8
0
0
MDEQ_Priority_Wa_Dissolved
polygons identify watershed boundaries
n/a
Feature Class
0
Shape
Feature geometry.
ESRI
Coordinates defining the features.
Shape
Geometry
0
0
0
HU_10_NAME
A unique name for each 5th level hydrologic unit that relates to the major water feature
within the polygon or the major water body it contributes to
Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Federal Standards for the Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Please refer to the Entity and Attribute Overview for valid values
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
Shape_Length
8
0
0
HU_10_MOD
This field identifies interbasin transfers (IT), dams at outlet (DM), etc. that modify natural
overland flow as modifications are identified from most significant to least significant modification(s).
Hydrologic units with no modification are marked with NM.
Modification by 1 to the Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit
Boundaries
Federal Standards for the Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Please refer to the Entity and Attribute Overview for valid values
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
Double
8
Shape_Area
0
0
HU_10_TYPE
This field identifies the type of watershed.
Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Federal Standards for the Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Please refer to the Entity and Attribute Overview for valid values
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
OID
4
OBJECTID
0
0
HU_12_DS
The 12-digit code of the 5th level hydrologic unit that is receiving the majority of the flow
from the watershed that the 6th level HU falls within. Outlets created by ditching or other artificial drainage
were not considered for this field.
Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Federal Standards for the Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
Please refer to the Entity and Attribute Overview for valid values
String
254
priority
0
0
Shape_Length
Length of feature in internal units.
ESRI
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
String
12
HU_12_DS
0
0
Shape_Area
Area of feature in internal units squared.
ESRI
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
Double
8
Shape_Length
0
0
OBJECTID_1
Internal feature number.
ESRI
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Double
8
Shape_Area
0
0
HUC_12
String
12
0
0
NCONTRB_A
Double
8
0
0
Downloadable Data
41.232
41.232
20100105
USGS Mississippi Water Science Center
K. Van Wilson
Hydrologist, P.E.
mailing and physical address
308 South Airport Road
Jackson
MS
39208
US
601-933-2922
601-933-2901
kvwilson@usgs.gov
8:00a - 4:30p Central, M-F
FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998
local time
http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html
ESRI Metadata Profile
http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html
ESRI Metadata Profile
en
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
This is a description of attributes by field from the Federal Standards for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
1) Polygon attributes
Huc_8 : Eight Digit Hydrologic Unit Code
A unique 8-digit code from the USGS map series "Hydrologic Unit Maps". The same number was used in every record that pertains to a subwatershed that resides within the same 8-digit sub-basin.Numbers were assigned in an upstream to downstream fashion. Where no downstream/upstream relationship could be determined numbers were assigned in a clockwise fashion.
Huc_10: Ten Digit Hydrologic Unit Code
This field provides a unique 10-digit code for each watershed. This same number was used in every record that pertains to a subwatershed that resides within the same 10-digit watershed. Numbers were assigned in an upstream to downstream fashion. Where no downstream/upstream relationship could be determined numbers were assigned in a clockwise fashion.
Huc_12: Twelve Digit Hydrologic Unit Code
This field provides a unique 12-digit code for each subwatershed. Numbers were assigned in an upstream to downstream fashion. Where no downstream/upstream relationship could be determined numbers were assigned in a clockwise fashion.
Acres: Acres
Area of subwatershed including non-contributing areas calculated to acres as a whole number, no decimals. The "Acres" field was calculated from the "Area" field.
States: States
The "States" field includes the names of all state(s) that the subwatershed falls within. The 2-digit postal abbreviation in upper case and in alphabetical order was used, separated with a comma.
Ncontrb_a: Non-Contributing Area
Drainage areas that do not flow toward the outlet of any hydrologic unit are considered non-contributing. If a non-contributing area is on the boundary between two or more hydrologic units, the non-contributing area is associated with the hydrologic unit adjacent to the low point on the boundary. This attribute should be the total of the non-contributing areas within a hydrologic unit calculated in acres.
Hu_10_ds: Fifth Level Downstream Hydrologic Unit Code
This field has the 10-digit code of the 5th level hydrologic unit that is receiving the majority of the flow from the watershed that the 6th level HU falls within. Outlets created by ditching or other artificial drainage were not considered for this field. If an HU flows into an ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, this field was populated with "OCEAN" and if a HU flows into one of the Great Lakes the term "LAKE" was used. If a HU flows across international borders, "CANADA" or "MEXICO" was used depending on which country the HU drains into. If an HU is a closed basin, then the term "CLOSED BASIN"was used.
Hu_10_name: Fifth Level Hydrologic Unit Name
This field used officially recognized names only. This field was populated by following the directions in subsection 6.3 "Watershed and Subwatershed Naming Protocol". The name used to attribute the watershed was used only once within a 4th level unit.
Hu_10_mod: Fifth Level Hydrologic Unit Modifications
This field identifies any type of modifications to natural overland flow that alters the location of the hydrologic unit boundary for a 10-digit watershed. This field shows the most significant to least significant modification(s) to the watershed boundary. One or more of the following abbreviations was used.
SC - Stormwater Canal or Drainage Canal
ID - Irrigation Ditch
IT - Interbasin Transfer
BC - Barge Canal or Navigation Canal
SD - Stormwater Ditch
PD - Pipe Diversion
CD - Channel Diversion
NC - Noncontributing Area
KA - Karst
LE - Levee
NM - No Modifications
OC - Overflow Channel or Flume
DM - Dam at outlet or HU boundary
GC - General Canal/Ditch
PS - Pumping Station
DD - Drainage Ditch
SI - Siphon
AD - Aqueduct
RS - Reservoir
TF - Transportation Feature (road, railroad, docks etc.)
GF - Ground-Water Flow
MA - Mining Activity
UA - Urban Area
GL - Glacier
IF - Ice Field
OF - Overbank Flow
OT - Other
Hu_10_type: Fifth Level Hydrologic Unit Type
This field was populated with the hydrologic unit type from the list provided that most closely identifies the watershed.
S - "Standard" hydrologic unit - Any land HU with drainage flowing to a single outlet point, excluding non-contributing areas. This includes areas or small triangular wedges between adjacent HU's that remain after classic hydrologic units are delineated. Some examples include "true", "classic", "composite", and "remnant" hydrologic units.
C - "Closed Basin" hydrologic unit - A drainage area that is 100% non-contributing. This means all surface flow is internal, no overland flow leaves the hydrologic unit through the outlet point.
F - "Frontal" hydrologic unit - Areas along the coastline of lakes, oceans, bays, etc. that have more than one outlet. These HU's are predominantly land with some water areas at or near the outlet(s).
M - “Multiple Outlet” hydrologic unit An area that has more than one natural outlet; for example, an outlet located on a stream with multiple channels. This does not include frontal or water hydrologic units, hydrologic units with artificial interbasin transfers, drainage outlets through karst or ground-water flow, or outlets that cross a stream with an island. This code should be used only in rare instances.
W - "Water" hydrologic unit - Hydrologic units that are predominantly water with adjacent land areas, ex. lake, easturies, harbors.
I - "Island" hydrologic unit - A hydrologic unit that is one or more islands and adjacent water out to the toe of the shore face.
U - "Unclassified" hydrologic unit - A hydrologic unit that can't be defined or doesn't fit into one of the types that have been listed.
Hu_12_ds: Sixth Level Downstream Hydrologic Unit Code
This field was populated with the 12-digit code of the 6th level hydrologic unit that is receiving the majority of the flow from the subwatershed. Outlets created by ditching or other artificial drainage were not considered for this field. If a HU flows into an ocean or the Gulf of Mexico it was populate with "OCEAN" and if a HU flows into one of the Great Lakes the term "LAKE" was used. If a HU flows across international borders, "CANADA" or "MEXICO" was used depending on which country the HU drains into. If an HU is a closed basin, this field was populated with the term "CLOSED BASIN".
Hu_12_name: Sixth Level Hydrologic Unit Name
Officially recognized names were used in this field. This field was populated by following the directions in subsection 6.3 "Watershed and Subwatershed Naming Protocol". The name used to attribute the subwatershed was used only once within a 4th level unit.
Hu_12_mod: Sixth Level Hydrologic Unit Modifications
This field identifies any type of man-made modification(s) to natural overland flow that alters the location of the hydrologic unit boundary for a 12-digit subwatershed. One or more of the following abbreviations was chosen for this field.
SC - Stormwater Canal or Drainage Canal
ID - Irrigation Ditch
IT - Interbasin Transfer
BC - Barge Canal or Navigation Canal
SD - Stormwater Ditch
PD - Pipe Diversion
CD - Channel Diversion
NC - Noncontributing Area
KA - Karst
LE - Levee
NM - No Modifications
OC - Overflow Channel or Flume
DM - Dam at outlet or HU boundary
GC - General Canal/Ditch
PS - Pumping Station
DD - Drainage Ditch
SI - Siphon
AD - Aqueduct
RS - Reservoir
TF - Transportation Feature (road, railroad, docks etc.)
GF - Ground-Water Flow
MA - Mining Activity
UA - Urban Area
GL - Glacier
IF - Ice Field
OF - Overbank Flow
OT - Other
Hu_12_type: Sixth Level Hydrologic Unit Type
This field was populated with the hydrologic unit type from the list provided that most closely identifies the subwatershed.
S - "Standard" hydrologic unit - Any land HU with drainage flowing to a single outlet point, excluding non-contributing areas. This includes areas or small triangular wedges between adjacent HU's that remain after classic hydrologic units are delineated. Some examples include "true", "classic", "composite", and "remnant" hydrologic units.
C - "Closed Basin" hydrologic unit - A drainage area that is 100% non-contributing. This means all surface flow is internal, no overland flow leaves the hydrologic unit through the outlet point.
F - "Frontal" hydrologic unit - Areas along the coastline of lakes, oceans, bays, etc. that have more than one outlet. These HU's are predominantly land with some water at or near the outlet(s).
M - “Multiple Outlet” hydrologic unit An area that has more than one natural outlet; for example, an outlet located on a stream with multiple channels. This does not include frontal or water hydrologic units, hydrologic units with artificial interbasin transfers, drainage outlets through karst or ground-water flow, or outlets that cross a stream with an island. This code should be used only in rare instances.
W - "Water" hydrologic unit - Hydrologic units that are predominantly water with adjacent land areas, ex. lake, easturies.
I - "Island" hydrologic unit - A hydrologic unit that is one or more islands and adjacent water out to the toe of the shore face.
U - "Unclassified" hydrologic unit - A hydrologic unit that can't be defined or doesn't fit into one of the types that have been listed.
2) Line attributes
Hu_level: Hydrologic Unit Level
This field provides the means to create cartographically pleasing maps. This field is populated with the highest hydrologic unit level (smallest number) for the line (arc) represented by the record. The attribute was recorded using numbers 1 through 6 representing each level with 1 being the highest and 6 the lowest level. An example would be if a line represents a region, subregion, basin, subbasin, watershed, and subwatershed boundary, then this cell was populated with a 1 (Region). Below is a list of numbers used for each level.
Level Digit# Name
1 2 Region
2 4 Subregion
3 6 Basin
4 8 Subbasin
5 10 Watershed
6 12 Subwatershed
Linesource: Line Spatial Data Source
The Linesource indicates the base map source(s) used to delineate at 1:24,000 scale. The field was populated using one of the standardized code(s) listed below. If more than one code was used, then a comma was used to separate the codes.
TOPO24 - Delineation from hardcopy 1:24,000 scale topographic maps
TOPO25 - Delineation from hardcopy 1:25,000 topgraphic maps, only Alaska and Caribbean
TOPO63 - Delineation from hardcopy 1:63,360 topographic maps, only Alaska and Caribbean
DRG24 - Delineation from 1:24,000 scale Digital Raster Graphics
DRG25 - Delineation from 1:25,000 Digital Raster Graphics, only Alaska and Caribbean
DRG63 - Delineation from 1:63,360 Digital Raster Graphics, only Alaska and Caribbean
DEM10 - Derived from 10 meter Digital Elevation Model
DEM30 - Derived from 30 meter Digital Elevation Model
NED30 - Derived from 30 meter National Elevation Dateset Model
EDNA30 - (formally NED-H), derived from 30 meter Elevation Derivatives for National
Applications
BATH"scale" (ex. BATH24) - Interpreted from NOAA 1:24,000 scale bathymetric data
HYPSO"scale" (ex. HYPSO24)- Delineated from 1:24,000 scale contour data
ORTHO"scale" (ex. ORTHO12) - Interpreted from 1:12,000 scale Ortho-imagery
DEDEM10 - Drainage enforced 10 meter Digital Elevation Model
DEDEM30 - Drainage enforced 30 meter Digital Elevation Model
GPS - Derived from Global Positioning System
LIDAR - Derived from LIDAR
IFSAR - Derived from IFSAR data
OTH - Other
UNK - Unknown
All other reference and source maps not listed should be noted in the metadata.
Meta_id: Metadata ID Number
The Metadata ID is a code that identifies which metadata file applies to the arc. In most cases there is only one metadata file. However, in some cases more than one metadata file was used to identify different groups and/or procedures used to produce the lines. The metadata ID is a 4-character code starting with the 2-letter state postal code, followed by a 2-digit sequence number. For example "OK01", "ID02", etc
Federal Standard for Delineation of Hydrologic Unit Boundaries
20250703
10393100
FALSE
20250130
10115600
20250130
10115600
MDEQ_Priority_Wa_Dissolved
002
Projected
GCS_North_American_1983
Linear Unit: Foot_US (0.304801)
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NAD_1983_StatePlane_Mississippi_East_FIPS_2301_Feet
1.0
Esri ArcGIS 13.2.2.49743
MDEQ_Priority_Wa_Dissolved
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ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata
DIS_ESRI1.0
dataset
002
withheld
Local Area Network
41.232
Shapefile
File Geodatabase Feature Class
GCS_North_American_1983
EPSG
5.3(9.0.0)
0
20250130