UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY


FLORIDA BOARD OF CONSERVATION
published by DIVISION OF GEOLOGY


MAP SERIES NO. 28 OCTOBER, 1967


85"


12EI


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09J2


DRAINAGE BASINS IN FLORIDA

By

W. E. Kenner, R. W. Pride, and C. S. Conover


A drainage basin is part of the surface of the
earth which contributes overland runoff to a stream.
A drainage basin is the area encompassed by a
drainage divide and consists of a drainage system
composed of a surface stream or a body of surface
water together with all tributary surface streams and
bodies of water. Simply, a drainage basin is an
area that drains by gravity to a common point.
Drainage basins may encompass many square
miles, such as the Suwannee River, or may encom-
pass less than a square mile, such as a small
tributary to a tributary to the Suwannee River. The
delineation, designation, and size of drainage areas
depend to a large extent upon the particular needs.
The major and sub-drainage basins in Florida
are delineated on the map. The basin code numbers
provide a basic system of cataloging and processing
the accumulating large volume of hydrologic infor-
mation for electronic data storage and retrieval.
The basin designations and code numbers conform
with minor exceptions to the nationwide system
instituted by the Office of Water Data Coordination,
U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.
The primary numerical designations of the
drainage basins on the maps are the same as those
of the Index of River Basin Maps of the United
States issued by the Inter-Agency Committee on
Water Resources1 and also used by the Office of
Water Data Coordination for the nationwide system.
The area of each of the four maps of the Committee
which cover Florida is indicated by colored shading
on the basin map. Basin designations consist of a
basin designation plus a numeral. In all, there are
29 major basins and areas and 17 sub-basins or
parts thereof in the State. Further subdivisions to
delineate the drainage basin of each small tributary
stream may be made but this definition is not shown
on the map.
The delineation of the drainage basin, or the
drainage area, of a stream is a necessary prerequi-
site for evaluating the hydrology of a river basin
or area. In particular, the drainage area is needed
to determine the amount of runoff for water supply,
for flood evaluation and forecasting, for design of
various water control and drainage works, and for
water management, regulation, and allocations.
Delineation of the drainage basin is usually
accomplished by using topographic maps which
show altitudes of the land surface. On such a map,
a line is drawn along the ridge or drainage divide
that separates adjacent stream valleys. If such a
line is begun at the mouth of a stream and drawn
along the drainage divide so as to completely en-
circle the stream, its tributaries, and the land
drained by the system, the line is called the basin
boundary and the land within it is the drainage
basin.
In Florida, which for the most part has little
topographic relief, drainage divides are difficult
to delineate and frequently are not meaningful.
Where the ridge between basins, such as the St.
Johns River above the Oklawaha River and Lake
Okeechobee and the Everglades, is indistinct and
is low enough to be topped by floodwaters, it will
function as a basin boundary only part of the time.
During floods, water falling in one basin can move
to an adjacent basin and run off through the stream
system of the latter. Topographic relief in southern
Florida is so low that drainage divides are indeter-
minate, particularly south of Lake Okeechobee.
Artificial divides are formed when an area is effec-
tively encircled by dikes and levees. The area
confined within these barriers can be treated as a
basin. Dikes and canals add greatly to the natural
difficulties of delineating basins where the land
surface is flat because the runoff from a large area
can be diverted to another basin with relative ease.
Basin and subbasin boundaries in southern Florida
may not be permanent, are to a great extent artificial,
and may be modified by drainage canal and dike
systems.


Although a basin boundary indicates that sur-
face water does not cross the boundary to add to
or subtract from the flow of the stream system, it
does not follow that all flow in the system originates
in the basin. The ground-water system in Florida,
as represented primarily by the Floridan aquifer,
does not coincide with the surface drainage system.
Accordingly, the flow of most streams in Florida
is not consistently related to the size of the drain-
age basin. Additions to normal basin flow can come
from springs whose source is outside the basin.
Conversely, deficiencies in flow result from natural
"non-contributing areas" in a basin and from man-
made interbasin diversions. "Non-contributing
areas", such as Paynes Prairie in the western
part of the Oklawaha River basin, are small basins
without surface outlets that lie within a larger
basin. Water from such basins may flow to adjacent
basins by means of the aquifer system.
The areal extent of the drainage basins which
are fully enclosed, that is drain to a common point
on a stream, are given in square miles in the table.
The drainage areas include the areal extent of the
drainage basins into adjacent states. Drainage
basins that border the coast are not enclosed and
their areal extent is indeterminate or is meaningless.
For instance, the coastal area between Myakka
River and Alafia River, drainage basin 10F, is
indeterminate partly because of the offshore keys
and islands, though it contains the Manatee River
system. Also for example, the Suwann e River
below the Withlacoochee River, subbas n 09J5,
receives the runoff from the upper Suwpenn-e River
basin; the drainage area for this subbasin is there-
fore meaningless and is not given.
The areal extent of drainage basins is deter-
mined by using standard procedures outlined in
Bulletin 4 of the Subcommittee on Hydrology, Federal
Inter-Agency River Basin Committee. Drainage
areas are revised periodically as new standard
topographic maps become available in accordance
with the responsibility given in 1950 to the Water
Resources Division by the Subcommittee on Hydro-
logy. Drainage areas given in the table represent
summations of smaller drainage areas determined
in fulfillment of this responsibility. Drainage areas
contributing to streams at gaging stations are pub-
lished annually by the Geological Survey in "Surface
Water Records of Florida".

IThe functions of this committee have been transferred
to the Water Resources Council, Washington, D.C. (1967).

REFERENCES

Healy, Henry G.
1962 Piezometric surface and areas of artesian
flow of the Floridan aquifer in Florida,
July 6-17, 1961: Florida Geol. Survey
Map Series No. 4.
Hyde, Luther W.
1965 Principal aquifers in Florida: Florida
Geol. Survey Map Series No. 16.
Langbein, W.B.
1960 (and Iseri, Kathleen T.), General Intro-
duction and hydrologic definitions: U.S.
Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 1541-A,
29 p.
U.S. Geological Survey
1951 Inter-agency coordination of drainage
area data in Notes on Hydrologic Activi-
ties-Bulletin no. 4, November 1951, 48 p.
1951 Surface water supply of the United States:
U.S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Papers,
U.S. Govt. Printing Office.
Office of Water Data Coordination, South
Atlantic and Gulf Coast drainage area:
Map Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12.
U.S. Weather Bureau
1961 River basin maps showing hydrologic
stations in Notes on Hydrologic Activi-
ties, Bulletin No. 11, April 1961.


RIVER BASINS AND P ARE

Code Drainage Area
Designation (square miles) 4


09C
09D
09E
09El
09E2
09E3
09F
09G
09H
09J
09J1
09J2
09J3
09J5
09J6
09K
10A
10B
10B1
10B2
10C
10D
10E
10F
10G
10H
10J
11A
11B
11C
11D
11E
11E2
11E7
11E8
11F
12A
12A3
12A4
12B
12C
12D
12E
12E1
12E4

12F


St. Marys River Basin and coastal area .........................
Coastal area between St. Marys River and St. Johns River ..........
St. Johns River basin ..........................................
St. Johns River above Oklawaha River .......................
Oklawaha River ...........................................
St. Johns River below Oklawaha River .......................
Coastal area between St. Johns River and Turkey Creek ...........
Withlacoochee River basin .....................................
Coastal area between Withlacoochee River and Suwannee River......
Suwannee River basin .........................................
Suwannee River above Withlacoochee River ...................
Alapaha River ............................................
Withlacoochee River .......................................
Suwannee River below Withlacoochee River ...................
Santa Fe River ...........................................
Coastal area between Suwannee River and Aucilla River ............
Turkey Creek and coastal area south to St. Lucie River ............
Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades area........................
Lake Okeechobee inflow area ...............................
Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades ........................
Coastal area between Caloosahatchee River and Peace River .......
Peace River basin ............................................
Myakka River basin ...........................................
Coastal area between Myakka River and Alafia River ..............
Alafia River basin ............................. ..............
Hillsborough River basin and coastal area north of Alafia River......
Coastal area between Hillsborough River and Withlacoochee River ...
Aucilla River basin ...........................................
Coastal area between Aucilla River and Ochlockonee River .........
Ochlockonee River basin and coastal area ........................
Coastal area between Ochlockonee River and Apalachicola River ....
Apalachicola River basin ......................................
Chattahoochee River below Mulberry Creek ...................
Apalachicola River ........................................
Chipola River ............................................
Coastal area between Apalachicola River and Choctawhatchee River..
Choctawhatchee River basin ....................................
Pea River ................................................
Choctawhatchee River below Pea River ......................
Coastal area between Choctawhatchee River and Yellow River ......
Yellow River basin ............................................
Blackwater River basin and coastal area .........................
Escambia River basin and coastal area ..........................
Conecuh River ............................................
Escambia River ...........................................
Perdido River basin and coastal area ............................


CITRUS


2,000

10,030
2,720
1,840
2,290

1,620


0

(%


19,600


EXPLANATION


09K Basin Code Number "



09J 5 Subbasin Code Number 0


---- Basin Boundary



- *- Subbasin Boundary


I.A.C.W.R.* Map 9


I.A.C.W.R. Map 10


Prepared by the
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
in cooperation with the
DIVISION OF GEOLOGY
Florida Board of Conservation
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
1967
I


I.A.C.W.R. Map 11



I.A.C.W.R. Map 12



*Inter-Agency Committee On Water Resources

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