mTER POLLUTION IN Tm LOI1I1ER COLmiBIA BAST^, VflTH PARTICULAR 

 RFFERTNCE TO THE mLUVT.TTE RIVER 



I. A EIJRVET OF POLLUTION PROBLB.TS IN THE LOViER COLTO'IEIA BASIN. 



Development of the salmon resources of the lower Columbia 

 River Basin appears as sound insurance against the threat of a 

 serious reduction in the runs to the upper river areas through 

 the multiple-purpose prop;rams of water development now under way 

 by the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and private 

 interests. Any comprehensive plan for the full development of the 

 fisheries resources in the lower Columbia Basin must be predicated 

 upon accurate knov/ledge of the waters therein polluted to a degree 

 affecting fish life. 



Pollution surveys have been made in the lower Columbia Basin 

 at various times in the past -- the most intensive studies having 

 been made in the Willamette Valley. 



Although many major tributaries of the upper Columbia drairdng 

 either areas of intense population or certain mining operations are 

 reputed to be locally polluted, the main-stem Columbia River at 

 Bonneville Dam was considered "unpolluted'* by Lincoln and Foster 

 (1943). Lincoln and Foster considered only three reaches of the 

 Columbia River below Bonneville Dam e.s being polluted to a degree 

 potentially affecting fish life, namely; (l) Camas Slough, 

 polluted by pulp-mill wastes | (2) Multnomah and Columbia Sloughs, 

 through which the heavily-polluted Willamette River enters the 

 Columbia J and (3) the lov/er Cov:litz River, polluted by paper 

 processing industries in the vicinity of Longviev;, \Yashington. 

 Lincoln and Foster state categorically; ""^there appears no evidence, 

 either direct or circumstantial, which would indicate that the 

 salmon runs of the main Columbia River are being damaged by pollu= 

 tion in the main channel. Without doubt, hov/ever, some of the 

 races which formerly did, and some v/hich now do, ascend tributaries 

 such as the Vfillamette, have and are sixffering greatly from wastes 

 discharged into these vrater courses .** 



Certain lower Columbia tributaries have been surveyed for 

 pollution. Lincoln and Foster report the Umatillaj, John Day, 

 Deschutes, Klickitat, Wind, and Sandy Rivers **carry some domestic 

 sev/age, but the amounts are relatively small and ... any effects 

 are probably localized." Merryfield and V/ilmot (1945) state that 

 "the Itoatilla River belov/ Pendleton is seriously contaminated." 



