The Wenatchee River is a river in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Washington, originating at Lake Wenatchee and flowing southeast for 53 miles (85.3 km), emptying into the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

 immediately north of Wenatchee, Washington

Wenatchee, Washington

Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925...

. On its way it passes the towns of Plain, Leavenworth

Leavenworth, Washington

Leavenworth is a city in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,965 at the 2010 census. The entire town center is modelled on a Bavarian village.-History:...

, Peshastin

Peshastin, Washington

Peshastin is a small unincorporated community in Chelan County, Washington, United States. The community's roots are found in the 'Peshastin Ditch' dug by pioneers beginning in 1889. This ditch was an important part of the overall irrigation system in the area, delivering water to the orchards on...

, Dryden

Dryden, Washington

Dryden is a small unincorporated community in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is situated along the Wenatchee River in the fertile Wenatchee Valley between the towns of Cashmere and Leavenworth...

, Cashmere

Cashmere, Washington

Cashmere is a city in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,060 at the 2010 census.-Early people:...

, Monitor

Monitor, Washington

Monitor is a small unincorporated community in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is situated along the Wenatchee River about 8 miles upstream from its junction with the Columbia River in the fertile Wenatchee Valley....

, and Wenatchee

Wenatchee, Washington

Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925...

.

Tributaries include the Chiwawa River

Chiwawa River

The Chiwawa River is a tributary of the Wenatchee River, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is completely contained within Chelan County.Much of the Chiwawa River's drainage basin is designated national forest and wilderness...

, Nason Creek, Peshastin Creek, and Icicle Creek

Icicle Creek

Icicle Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. It originates at Josephine Lake near the crest of the Cascade Range and flows generally west to join the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth. Icicle Creek's drainage basin is mountainous and mostly undeveloped land within the Wenatchee National...

. Its drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is 1333 square miles (3,452.5 km²) in area.

History

Historically the dividing line between Okanogan County and Kittitas County, the river has been in the center of Chelan County since the county's formation around 1899.

Water from the Wenatchee River and its tributaries has been diverted for irrigation since 1891, mainly for orchards. There are two small dams on the Wenatchee River, the Tumwater Canyon Dam, which sits just west of the community of Leavenworth, and the Dryden dam, a low-head dam situated just outside the town of Dryden. The Tumwater Canyon dam originally provided power to the original two mile long railroad tunnel used near Stevens Pass to get trains across the Cascade Mountains, it was later (starting in 1928) used to power the railroad's electrification from Wenatchee, WA to Skykhomish, WA.

Pollution

Toxic chemicals banned decades ago in Washington continue to linger in the environment and concentrate in the food chain

Food chain

A food web depicts feeding connections in an ecological community. Ecologists can broadly lump all life forms into one of two categories called trophic levels: 1) the autotrophs, and 2) the heterotrophs...

, threatening people and the environment, according to three recent studies by the Washington state Department of Ecology. In 2007, the Washington Department of Health advised the public to not eat mountain whitefish from the Wenatchee River from Leavenworth

Leavenworth, Washington

Leavenworth is a city in Chelan County, Washington, United States. It is part of the Wenatchee–East Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,965 at the 2010 census. The entire town center is modelled on a Bavarian village.-History:...

 downstream to where the river joins the Columbia, due to unhealthy levels of PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyl

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...

s.