This interactive map of Hawaii shows every major river, stream, lake, and reservoir in the state. Hawaii has 361 mapped rivers and streams (totalling 1,751 miles) and 164 water bodies, of which 22 are named features at least a tenth of a square mile in area. The state ranks #48 of 51 by total mapped river miles and #50 by lake and reservoir area.
The longest mapped river in Hawaii is the Wailuku River (17.4 mi mapped). The largest mapped water body is Waita Reservoir (0.61 sq mi). Click any feature on the map for name, type, and size; use the layer toggles, basemap switcher, and name search above the map to explore.
About this map
Rivers come from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) via ESRI Living Atlas, filtered by Hawaii’s State attribute. Lakes, reservoirs, and other water bodies come from the NHD Detailed Water Bodies layer and are filtered to features intersecting the Hawaii boundary. Lengths shown are per-feature segment lengths (not full course length), and the blue river lines are a generalized hydrography layer — switch the basemap to Satellite or Terrain at high zoom if you need to see exactly where each channel sits on the ground.
Longest mapped rivers in Hawaii
The top mapped river segments in Hawaii, ranked by the length of each named segment in the NHD.
| # | River | Type | Longest segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wailuku River | Stream | 17.4 mi |
Largest mapped lakes and reservoirs in Hawaii
The top mapped water bodies in Hawaii, ranked by surface area. Reservoirs are typically dam-impounded; Lake/Pond covers natural lakes plus large estuaries and bayous; Swamp/Marsh covers wetlands; Stream/River covers wide river reaches stored as polygons. Boundary water bodies (Great Lakes, Lake Pontchartrain, etc.) are credited to every state they touch.
| # | Water body | Type | Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Waita Reservoir | Lake/Pond | 0.61 sq mi |
| 2 | Salt Lake | Lake/Pond | 0.26 sq mi |
| 3 | Nuupia Pond | Lake/Pond | 0.14 sq mi |
| 4 | Alexander Reservoir | Lake/Pond | 0.08 sq mi |
| 5 | Papuaa Reservoir | Lake/Pond | 0.07 sq mi |
Hawaii water by the numbers
- Mapped rivers and streams: 361 features, 1,751 total mapped miles (national rank #48 of 51)
- Water bodies (any size): 164 features
- Named water bodies (≥ 0.1 sq mi): 22 features
- Total mapped water surface: 20 sq mi (national rank #50 of 51)
Neighboring state maps
Return to the US Lakes and Rivers Interactive Map for national rankings and the all-states view.
