Catchment

Catchment

Definition

A catchment is an area of land that is drained by a river and its tributaries.

Delineation criteria

Delineation can be made based on the topographic divide (watershed) using digital elevation models (DEM) and a Geographic Information System (GIS), or with an existing catchment boundary database.

Methods and Data sources

• Digital elevation models (e.g. EU-DEM) using GIS algorithms to delimit the divide
• EU-wide CCM2 River and Catchment Database (v2.1) or EEA Ecrins (connected watersheds, rivers, lakes, monitoring stations, dams) data set

• 

  The River Frome catchment is a medium-sized, lowland, calcareous catchment located in southern England.