Global hydro-environmental sub-basin and river reach characteristics at high spatial resolution.

The HydroATLAS database provides a standardized compendium of descriptive hydro-environmental information for all watersheds and rivers of the world at high spatial resolution. Version 1.0 of HydroATLAS offers data for 56 variables, partitioned into 281 individual attributes and organized in six categories: hydrology; physiography; climate; land cover & use; soils & geology; and anthropogenic influences.

Estimating the eco-toxicological risk of estrogens in China's rivers using a high-resolution contaminant fate model.

The contamination of freshwater systems arises in many river basins due to industrialization and population growth, posing risks to ecosystems and human health. Despite these concerns, the fate and potential impact of many emerging pollutants are currently unknown, especially when the compounds are released into surface waters from populations distributed across large spatial scales. In order to address this shortcoming, a spatially-explicit contaminant fate model was developed as an extension of the global, vector-based river routing model HydroROUT.

Risk assessment of down-the-drain chemicals at large spatial scales: Model development and application to contaminants originating from urban areas in the Saint Lawrence River Basin.

Chemicals released into freshwater systems threaten ecological functioning and may put aquatic life and the health of humans at risk. We developed a new contaminant fate model (CFM) that follows simple, well-established methodologies and is unique in its cross-border, seamless hydrological and geospatial framework, including lake routing, a critical component in northern environments. We validated the model using the pharmaceutical Carbamazepine and predicted eco-toxicological risk for 15 pharmaceuticals in the Saint-Lawrence River Basin, Canada.