Description: The WA State National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is the standard hydrography for Washington. NHD Area represents the areal extent of the water in a wide stream/river with a basic set of attributes. These polygons typically encompass NHDFlowline artificial paths that represent the stream network. Artificial path carries the critical attributes of the stream/river, whereas NHDArea represents the geometric extent. The NHDWaterbody is similar but represents features likes swamps/marshes, reservoirs, playa, estuaries, and ice masses.The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a feature-based database that interconnects and uniquely identifies the stream segments or reaches that make up the nation's surface water drainage system. This high-resolution NHD, generally is developed at 1:24,000/1:12,000 scale, but many areas of Washington State have been improved to 1:4800 scale. NHD data was originally developed at 1:100,000-scale and exists at that scale for the whole country. Local resolution NHD is being developed where partners and data exist. The NHD contains reach codes for networked features, flow direction, names, and centerline representations for areal water bodies. Reaches are also defined on waterbodies and the approximate shorelines of the Great Lakes, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The NHD also incorporates the National Spatial Data Infrastructure framework criteria established by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. Effective stewardship and cooperation between agencies ensures that the NHD can be continually updated and enhanced with local knowledge and understanding of hydrologic systems. This data can also be accessed directly from USGS. A detailed data dictionary is available at https://nhd.usgs.gov/userguide.html?url=NHD_User_Guide/Feature_Catalog/NHD_Feature_Catalog.htm