View of the Spokane River to west (downstream) from the Sullivan Road bridge in the Spokane valley. Sullivan Park is just out of the photograph on the right.
The Spokane River flows across a large portion of the aquifer surface, from Lake Coeur d'Alene to its confluence with the Little Spokane River north of Spokane.
It has an important relationship with the aquifer system - in some places
it contributes water to the aquifer, while in other areas it receives water
from the aquifer (depending on the stage of the river and the elevation
of the adjacent water table surface in the aquifer). That's
right, in some places the river serves to recharge the underlying groundwater
supply in the aquifer, while in others it is a point of groundwater
discharge from the aquifer and to the surface.
View of the Spokane River to west (downstream) from the Sullivan Road
bridge in the Spokane valley. Sullivan Park is just out of the photograph
on the right.
Close-up view of the nature of the riverbed of the Spokane River.
Note the coarse gravelly material comprising the bed and banks of the river
that easily promotes the exchange of surface water and ground water between
the river and the aquifer.
To learn more about the water quality of the Spokane River, visit the Department of Ecology's Spokane Water Quality Management Area web page.
To see what the flow is in the Spokane River, visit the Army Corps of Engineers web page for eastern Washington rivers.
