U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceDefinition This indicator identifies the quality and availability of surface drinking water for people within the Midwest Landscape. It prioritizes areas based on supply and demand of drinking water, plus the presence of threats to the water supply. Pixels can take the following values: 1 - Less important watersheds, not a natural asset 2 - Less important watersheds, natural assets 3 - Median importance watersheds, not a natural asset 4 - Median importance watersheds, natural assets 5 - More important watersheds, not a natural asset 6 - More important watersheds, natural assets Selection This indicator was chosen as a targetable, important feature of the MLI goals that will be used to track conditions over time and prioritize areas for conservation. Indicators were defined through elicitation and prioritization exercises with federal and state participants. Criteria for the indicators includes 1) actionable, 2) measurable, 3) relevant to multiple groups across the region, and/or 4) representative of other social and/or environmental values. Input Data & Mapping Steps This indicator originates from the USDA Forest Service National Forests to Faucets 2.0 Assessment. To create this layer, MLI partners, members, and staff completed the following mapping steps: projected all input data to NAD83 (2011) UTM Zone 15N, converted the input data to a 30m raster based on the importance score of each watershed, classified the raster into three categories, and emphasized natural assets within each watershed, leading to a raster with the following categories: 1 - Less important watersheds, not a natural asset, 2 - Less important watersheds, natural assets, 3 - Median importance watersheds, not a natural asset, 4 - Median importance watersheds, natural assets, 5 - More important watersheds, not a natural asset, 6 - More important watersheds, natural assets. Finally, we removed highly altered areas from this layer using our Highly Altered Areas mask. For full mapping details, please refer to the Midwest Conservation Blueprint Development Process . For a complete download of all Blueprint input and output data, visit the Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Data Download .ArcGIS ImageMapLayerhttps://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/b768ea09366f4661bb8dcd1ced48f6e6engU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open DataPublicWater Quality & Availability - Surface Water (Midwest Conservation Blueprint 2026 Indicator) [United States]Web servicesUnited States2026