Chevrotains are confined to closed-canopy, moist tropical lowland forest, and within this habitat, they only occupy areas in the vicinity of streams and rivers. However, the Water Chevrotain is not a swamp specialist, and often ranges in mature upland forest areas (Hart 2013).

Has a disjunct range in West and Central Africa. It occurs in the Upper Guinea Forest from Sierra Leone and south-eastern Guinea, through Liberia and southern Côte d’Ivoire into south-west Ghana, there are recent camera-trap records of the species from south-eastern Guinea-Bissau in the Boé, extending the known distribution some way to the north-west (Hart 2013). It is also distributed through the Congo Basin forest of Central Africa from the Niger River through southern Cameroon, Gabon, Cabinda (Angola), Congo and DR Congo to extreme western Uganda, where it is now believed extirpated (East 1999, Hart 2013). A record from Angola's Lunda Norte Province, near the Cassai River, is the southernmost record Crawford-Cabral and Veríssimo 2005). Within this range, occupancy is restricted to the vicinity of rivers and streams (Hart 2013).

Water Chevrotains occur in several protected areas, including: Sapo N.P. and Grebo National Forest (Liberia), Tai N. P. (Côte d’Ivoire), Lobeke N. P. (Cameroon), Lope N.P. and Minkebe N.P. (Gabon), Maiko N.P. Kahuzi-Biega N.P. and Okapi Faunal Reserve (DR Congo) and Odzala and Nouabale-Ndoki NPs (Congo) (East 1999).