Use of the term "Reach" 



Terms are important, because they determiiK our perception of the thing that is being described. Use of the term "pool" perpetuates 

 a misconception among readers and resiewers outside the upper Mississippi Basin that there is Utile of the natural river left Readers 

 assume that we are talking about "a deep, still place in a sueam or rKer" where the water is standing more than it is flowing. "Poor' is 

 often associated with "stagnant". Many readers and reviewers outside the Mississippi Basin have the misconception that the ri\er is a 

 polluted barge canaL or a series of large resersoirs. Some reviewers assume the river is altered that nothing about the structure and 

 function of ecosystems could be learned by stud>ing it; i.e. the\ considered it as man-made as an agricultural field, boat harbor, canal, or 

 storage resenoir Use of the word "pool" for any portion of the Mississippi is misleading, because "pool" commonly refers to small 

 bodies of water (e.g., "puddles"). However, the term has been used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since at least the 1930's, when 

 the 9-foot channel and associated navigation dams were constructed. The term "reach" is much nwre appropriate for the stretch of ri\ er 

 between navigation dams or beUvcen bends in the river, indeed these are two of the standard definitions and common usage for "reach". 

 'Pool should be a subset of "reach", because na\igation dams create wide deep places in the riser onl>' part of the distance upstream to the 

 ne.vt dam. In addition, some na%igation reaches, such as Reach 15, are swift channels with scarcely an>' slackwater "pool" at all. 

 Follouing are definitions of the two terms: 



Definitions of Pool and Reach 



Stein, Jess, and Laurence Urdang (eds.). 1971. The Random House dictionary of the English language. 

 Random House. New York. 2059pp. 



Pool Reach 



1. A small bod>' of standing water; pond 



2. A puddle. 



3. An>' small collection of liquid on a surface. 



4. A still, deep place in a stream 



24. A continuous stretch or extent of something: a reach of woodland. 



25. Also called pound, a level portion of a canal between locks. 

 28. a straight portion of a river between two bends. 



Brown, Lesley (ed.). 1993. the new shorter Oxford English dictionar/ on historical principles. Vol.2, 

 N-Z. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 3801pp. 



Pool 



1 a. A small bod>' of standing or still water, especially one of 



natural formation Old English, b A small shallow 



accumulation of am liquid; a puddle. 



2. A deep still place in a river or stream 



4. A tank or other artificially constructed receptacle (to be) 



filled with water for swimming, diving, etc. 



Reach 



la. An enclosed stretch of water, a bay Long obsolete, except in 

 Canadian dialect, b. A portion of a river, channel, or lake between 

 U\o bends; a portion of a canal between Uvo locks. 

 2. General. A continuous stretch, course, or exlenl in space or tine. 



