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Columbia Slough

Columbia Slough
A stream perhaps 70 feet (15 m) wide flows between trees lining both banks. Telephone or electric wires cross above the stream. A set of low hills is in the far distance. The stream is so flat it is hard to say which way it is flowing.
Columbia Slough near mouth
Name origin: Columbia River
Country United States
State Oregon
County Multnomah
Source Fairview Lake (nominal)
 - location Fairview, Multnomah County, Oregon
 - elevation 10 ft (3 m)
 - coordinates 45°33′00″N 122°27′24″W / 45.55000°N 122.45667°W / 45.55000; -122.45667 
Mouth Willamette River
 - location Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon
 - elevation 9 ft (3 m)
 - coordinates 45°38′36″N 122°46′07″W / 45.64333°N 122.76861°W / 45.64333; -122.76861Coordinates: 45°38′36″N 122°46′07″W / 45.64333°N 122.76861°W / 45.64333; -122.76861 
Length 19 mi (31 km)
Basin 51 sq mi (132 km2)
Discharge for Portland, 0.6 miles (1.0 km) from mouth
 - average 93.8 cu ft/s (2.7 m3/s)
 - max 2,400 cu ft/s (68.0 m3/s)
 - min −6,700 cu ft/s (−189.7 m3/s)
Much longer than wide, the Columbia Slough watershed extends along the Columbia River to the north from Wood Village and Fairview on the east to the Willamette River in Portland on the west. It extends south into north Portland, Maywood Park, and north Gresham.
Columbia Slough watershed
The mouth of the Columbia Slough is in northwestern Oregon.
Location of the mouth of Columbia Slough in Oregon

The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about 19 miles (31 km) long, in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough meanders west through Gresham and Portland to the Willamette River, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia. It is a remnant of the historic wetlands between the mouths of the Sandy River to the east and the Willamette River to the west. Levees surround much of the main slough as well as many side sloughs, detached sloughs, and nearby lakes. Drainage district employees control water flows with pumps and floodgates. Tidal fluctuations cause reverse flow on the lower slough.

The Columbia floodplain, formed by geologic processes including lava flows, volcanic eruptions, and the Missoula Floods, is part of the Portland Basin, which extends across the Columbia River from Multnomah County, Oregon, into Clark County, Washington. Five percent of Oregon's population, about 158,000 people, live in the slough watershed of about 51 square miles (130 km2). Municipal wells near the upper slough provide supplemental drinking water to Portland and nearby cities. The cities, the drainage districts, the county, and a regional government, Metro, have overlapping jurisdictions in the watershed. A regional agency operates Portland International Airport along the middle slough and marine terminals near the lower slough. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the city's Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) deal with environmental issues.


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