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Spokane River Watersheds

Watershed Planning & Implementation for WRIAs 54, 55, 56, & 57

WRIA 54 Data

WRIA 54 Web Mapping Application

WRIA 54, an 885-square-mile watershed in eastern Washington, encompasses portions of the Cities of Spokane and Medical Lake, Spokane, Stevens and Lincoln Counties, and Fairchild Air Force Base; most of the Spokane Indian Reservation; and the City of Airway Heights. The dry but temperate climate of the area has interacted with local geology to create soils, aquifers, and water bodies that interact in complex ways.

Principal aquifers generally lie within unconsolidated sands and gravels, basalt, and basement rocks. The unconsolidated and basalt aquifers are the most suitable for extracting groundwater of sufficient quantity for municipal distribution systems. The basalt aquifers occur within the Wanapum and Grande Ronde members of the Columbia River Basalt Group. There are approximately 3,000 miles of rivers and streams draining the landscape, many of which are intermittent, that is, not having continuous year-round flow. Perennial water bodies such as the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers gain flow from groundwater along certain reaches, providing a continuous base flow.