Compared to a large city on the Lake Ontario, Guelph is a little different when it comes to analyzing watersheds, as it’s all on a smaller scale. When I moved from Toronto the the Tri-Cities, it was a big eye-opener for me, as these differences had a direct impact on the lay of the metroscapes. Those differences continue as you shift to a city the size of Guelph.
As a recap, Toronto is bounded by a great lake with 6 major rivers and creeks feeding into it. The Tri-Cities are along one major river, and has 6 significant tributaries feeding into it. It’s a downscaling that, combined with way different hydrogeology and urban timelines, really varies the metroscapes.
Guelph is yet another downscale. It is intersected by two major rivers: the Speed River, the main trunk through the middle of the city, and the Eramosa River, a major tributary of the Speed to the east. The Speed run out of town to the soutwest, crossing into Cambridge and meeting the Grand River (the major river along the Tri-Cities).
There are 4 significant tributaries and their watersheds, which cover over half of the urban area: Willow, Clythe, Torrance and Hanlon Creeks. 40% is the interstitial drainage feeding into the Speed and Eramosa Rivers, and the remaining 5.6% goes to external watersheds.
See a mapping error? Have a name to put to an unnamed tributary? Please feel free to send me comments.
Open Data
This dataset is available in multiple formats through the Open Data Portal
Metroscapes 