This experimental holding pond at Whitaker Ponds is part of innovative efforts to revitalize the Columbia Slough watershed. Stormwater discharge, oil, and runoff from the industrialized Columbia Boulevard drains through pipes into an underground tank where sludge collects. It then seeps into the rocks in the foreground of this image, further diluting pollutants, before reaching the bioswale above, and ultimately Whitaker Ponds. The pond, once one of a large system of lakes and sloughs on the Columbia’s floodplain is slowly returning to a more natural and usable state for both humans and wildlife. Photo by Geoff Wetherell, Columbia Slough Capstone student, Summer 2000