Science Natural Science ALL the Rivers in the United States on a Single Beautiful Interactive Map! By Michael Graham Richard Michael Graham Richard Writer University of Ottawa Michael Graham Richard is a writer from Ottawa, Ontario. He worked for Treehugger for 11 years, covering science, technology, and transportation. Learn about our editorial process Updated September 6, 2024 Nelson Minar / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 Science Space Natural Science Technology Agriculture Energy A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report concluded that 55% of United States rivers and streams are in poor condition. Some of us don't go to many rivers throughout our lives, so when we see a percentage like that we might not realize how many waterways there are in the United States and how many are threatened. The map above gives you an idea of the number of rivers and streams in our country. As you continue in this article, you'll see other slides that show beautiful visualizations of U.S. rivers and interactive maps you can play with (zoom in and out) to see the rivers in your area. All the river data comes from the NHDPlus dataset, a geo-spatial, hydrologic framework dataset envisioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Hopefully, after viewing the images, you'll be inspired to protect our waterways so they can continue to provide much-needed water and beauty for all of us. Nelson Minar / Some Bits Above is a different version of the zoomed-out map. It shows a different view of the entire U.S., with only its major rivers. Now let's zoom back in... Nelson Minar / Some Bits The image above shows America's South-East, with Florida being less well endowed in rivers than the rest. The rivers in this map give a good idea of what the 3D terrain looks like in specific areas since water flows downhill and streams join together at lower elevations to form bigger rivers. Nelson Minar / Some Bits Above is the North-East portion of the U.S. Notice the shape of the Great Lakes and how dense the river network is. Nelson Minar / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 Look above to see California and the West! Nelson Minar / Some Bits This image above is a zoomed-in view of the San Francisco Bay, shown from a cool interactive map. Nelson Minar / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0 Look up to see part of the Gulf of Mexico coast, with an incredible network zig-zagging northward. Nelson Minar / Some Bits Some of the most beautiful areas in this image look almost like frame-frozen lighting strikes. There's an electric quality to the picture. So pretty! Nelson Minar / Some Bits Playing with interactive maps to find your area and the rivers near you is fun. Computer geeks may love learning about the code behind these maps. Want to know the backstory on the maps? You can find that too on Nelson Minar's site.