Teck smelter spills chemical solution into Columbia River
CBC News
Posted: Feb 01, 2014 10:51 AM PT
Last Updated: Feb 01, 2014 10:51 AM PT
A mining and smelting company spilled a large volume of chemical
solution into a domestic sewer line near Trail, B.C., on Tuesday.
Teck Resources says an incident at the Trail Smelter caused between
12,000 and 25,000 litres of a sodium hydroxide solution to flow into a
sewer line. That line leads to the Regional District sewage plant,
which discharges into the Columbia River.
"Our initial information indicates that the sewage treatment plant
process would have a limited effect on that solution as it passed
through the plant and eventually discharged into the Columbia River,"
said Teck spokesperson Richard Deane.
The solution is usually treated on-site. The company is investigating
how it could have drained into the sewer, but says it does not expect
there to be any long-term impact on the river's aquatic life or
surrounding environment.
"We are going to be having a third-party environmental impact
assessment conducted to confirm whether there will be any impact as a
result of this incident," Deane said.
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Columbia River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Columbia River |
|
Bonneville Dam, in the Columbia River Gorge
|
| Name origin: Captain Robert Gray's ship, Columbia Rediviva |
| Nickname: Big River, the River of the West, River Oregon[1] |
|
| Countries |
United States, Canada |
| States |
Washington, Oregon |
| Province |
British Columbia |
|
| Tributaries |
| - left |
Spillimacheen River, Beaver River, Illecillewaet River, Incomappleux River, Kootenay River, Pend Oreille River, Spokane River, Snake River, John Day River, Deschutes River, Willamette River |
| - right |
Kicking Horse River, Blaeberry River, Canoe River, Kettle River, Sanpoil River, Okanogan River, Wenatchee River, Yakima River, Lewis River, Kalama River, Cowlitz River |
| Cities |
Revelstoke, BC, Tri-Cities, WA, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, Longview, WA, Astoria, OR |
|
|
| Source |
Columbia Lake |
| - location |
British Columbia, Canada |
| - elevation |
2,690 ft (820 m) [2] |
| - coordinates |
 50°13′N 115°51′W [3] |
| Mouth |
Pacific Ocean, at Clatsop County, Oregon / Pacific County, Washington |
| - elevation |
0 ft (0 m) |
| - coordinates |
46°14′39″N 124°3′29″W [4] |
|
| Length |
1,243 mi (2,000 km) [5] |
| Basin |
258,000 sq mi (668,000 km2) |
| Discharge |
for mouth (average); max and min at The Dalles, Oregon, 188.9 miles (304.0 km) from the mouth |
| - average |
265,000 cu ft/s (7,500 m3/s) [6][7][8] |
| - max |
1,240,000 cu ft/s (35,100 m3/s) |
| - min |
12,100 cu ft/s (300 m3/s) |
|
Columbia River drainage basin
|
| Wikimedia Commons: Columbia River |
|
The
Columbia River is the largest river in the
Pacific Northwest region of North America.
[9] The river
rises in the
Rocky Mountains of
British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of
Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of
Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its largest
tributary is the
Snake River. Its
drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven U.S. states and a Canadian province.
By volume, the Columbia is the fourth-largest river in the United
States; it has the greatest flow of any North American river draining
into the Pacific. The river's heavy flow and its relatively steep
gradient gives it tremendous potential for the generation of
electricity. The
14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's
main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more
hydroelectric power than those of any other North American river.
The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's
culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for
transportation since ancient times, linking the many cultural groups of
the region. The river system hosts many species of
anadromous fish, which migrate between
freshwater habitats and the
saline Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the
salmon
species—provided the core subsistence for natives; in past centuries,
traders from across western North America traveled to the Columbia to
trade for fish.
In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first
non-indigenous vessel to enter the river; it was followed by a British
explorer, who navigated past the
Oregon Coast Range into the
Willamette Valley. In the following decades,
fur trading
companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland
explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but
treacherous
Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers, following both routes to enter it.
Steamships
along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival
of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river,
supplemented these links.
Since the late 19th century,
public and
private
sectors have heavily developed the river. The development, commonly
referred to as taming or harnessing of the river, has been massive and
multi-faceted. To aid ship and barge navigation,
locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and
dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged
shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for the purposes of power generation, navigation,
irrigation, and flood control. Today, a dam-impounded
reservoir
lies along nearly every U.S. mile of the once free-flowing river, and
much of the Canadian stretch has been impounded as well. Production of
nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river. Plutonium for
nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the
Hanford Site,
which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the U.S. All these
developments have had a tremendous impact on river environments, perhaps
most notably through industrial pollution and barriers to fish
migration.
Course
The Columbia begins its 1,243-mile (2,000 km) journey in the southern
Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia (BC).
Columbia Lake – 2,690 feet (820 m) above
sea level – and the adjoining
Columbia Wetlands form the river's
headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long
glacial valley between the
Canadian Rockies and the
Columbia Mountains in BC. For its first 200 miles (320 km), the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through
Windermere Lake and the town of
Invermere, a region known in British Columbia as the
Columbia Valley, then northwest to
Golden and into
Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the
Selkirk Mountains, the river turns sharply south through a region known as the
Big Bend Country, passing through
Revelstoke Lake and the
Arrow Lakes. Revelstoke, the Big Bend, and the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the
Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia passes the cities of
Castlegar, located at the Columbia's
confluence with the
Kootenay River, and
Trail, two major population centers of the
West Kootenay region. The
Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about 2 miles (3 km) north of the
U.S.–Canada border.
[10]
Course of the Columbia River
The Columbia enters
eastern Washington flowing south and turning to the west at the
Spokane River confluence. It marks the southern and eastern borders of the
Colville Indian Reservation and the western border of the
Spokane Indian Reservation.
[11] The river turns south after the
Okanogan River confluence, then southeasterly near the confluence with the
Wenatchee River in central Washington. This C‑shaped segment of the river is also known as the "Big Bend". During the
Missoula Floods 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, much of the floodwater took a more direct route south, forming the ancient river bed known as the
Grand Coulee. After the floods, the river found its present course, and the Grand Coulee was left dry. The construction of the
Grand Coulee Dam in the mid-20th century impounded the river, forming
Lake Roosevelt, from which water was pumped into the dry
coulee, forming the
reservoir of
Banks Lake.
[12]
The river flows past
The Gorge Amphitheatre, a prominent concert venue in the Northwest, then through
Priest Rapids Dam, and then through the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Entirely within the reservation is
Hanford Reach, the only U.S. stretch of the river that is completely free-flowing, unimpeded by dams and not a tidal
estuary. The
Snake River and
Yakima River join the Columbia in the
Tri‑Cities
population center. The Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the
Washington–Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final
309 miles (497 km) of its journey.
[13]
The
Deschutes River joins the Columbia near
The Dalles. Between The Dalles and
Portland, the river cuts through the
Cascade Range, forming the dramatic
Columbia River Gorge. No other river except for the
Klamath
completely breaches the Cascades—the other rivers that flow through the
range also originate in or very near the mountains. The headwaters and
upper course of the
Pit River
flows through much of the Cascades; in contrast the Columbia cuts
through the range nearly a thousand miles from its source in the Rocky
Mountains. The gorge is known for its strong and steady winds, scenic
beauty, and its role as an important transportation link.
[14] The river continues west, bending sharply to the north-northwest near Portland and
Vancouver, Washington, at the
Willamette River confluence. Here the river slows considerably, dropping sediment that might otherwise form a
river delta. Near
Longview, Washington and the
Cowlitz River confluence, the river turns west again. The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just west of
Astoria, Oregon, over the
Columbia Bar, a shifting
sandbar that makes the river's mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world.
[15] Because of the danger and the many shipwrecks near the mouth, it acquired a reputation as the "Graveyard of Ships".
[16]
The Columbia drains an area of about 258,000 square miles (670,000 km
2).
[6] Its drainage basin covers nearly all of
Idaho, large portions of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, ultimately all of
Montana west of the Continental Divide, and small portions of
Wyoming,
Utah, and
Nevada;
the total area is similar to the size of France. Roughly 745 miles
(1,200 km) of the river's length and 85 percent of its drainage basin
are in the U.S.
[17] The Columbia is the twelfth-longest river and has the sixth-largest drainage basin in the United States.
[6] In Canada, where the Columbia flows for 498 miles (801 km) and drains 39,700 square miles (103,000 km
2), the river ranks 23rd in length,
[18] and its basin ranks 13th in size.
[19] The Columbia shares its name with nearby places, such as British Columbia, as well as with landforms and bodies of water.
Discharge
With an average flow at the mouth of about 265,000 cubic feet per second (7,500 m
3/s),
[6] the Columbia is the largest river by volume flowing into the Pacific from North America
[20] and is the fourth-largest by volume in the U.S.
[6]
The average flow where the river crosses the international border
between Canada and the United States is 99,000 cubic feet per second
(2,800 m
3/s) from a drainage basin of 39,700 square miles (103,000 km
2).
[21]
This amounts to about 15 percent of the entire Columbia watershed. The
Columbia's highest recorded flow, measured at The Dalles, was 1,240,000
cubic feet per second (35,000 m
3/s) in June 1894, before the river was dammed.
[22] The lowest flow recorded at The Dalles was 12,100 cubic feet per second (340 m
3/s) on April 16, 1968, and was caused by the initial closure of the
John Day Dam, 28 miles (45 km) upstream.
[22] The Dalles is about 190 miles (310 km) from the mouth; the river at this point drains about 237,000 square miles (610,000 km
2) or about 91 percent of the total watershed.
[22]
Flow rates on the Columbia are affected by many large upstream
reservoirs, many diversions for irrigation, and, on the lower stretches,
reverse flow from the
tides of the Pacific Ocean. The
National Weather Service issues tide forecasts for eight places along the river between Astoria and the base of
Bonneville Dam.
[23]
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