We’re pumping a lot of water during the winter rainy period. Actually, we’re pumping over a billion gallons per day. Our pumps run nine to ten months a year, continuous, twenty-four hours every day . . .We’ve also developed new techniques to provide flood protection, stormwater conveyance environmental protection of our waterways and levee areas. . . .We used to do all of our maintenance from top of bank, and to do that, that means you have to remove all the trees. You know, the old dragline excavator would work from top of the bank to remove debris and silt that blocked the flow of water. To do this, they had to reach down the bank, and that would damage the vegetation. And that’s a direct conflict with what we’re trying to accomplish now with all the water quality issues and the habitat restoration that we’re trying to do along our waterways.
Dave Hendricks, Operations Manager, Multnomah Drainage District
After the flood of 1996, the Multnomah Drainage District received financing to upgrade the flood control pump system on the Columbia Slough. The Drainage District maintains and manages eleven secondary Pump Stations in the secondary slough systems and two Pump Stations on the main Columbia Slough.
Next Page: Go to the Source and Questions to Consider: Columbia Slough, Part 1
