TRI-CITIES, WA – Many viewers have asked us “Why is the Columbia river so muddy?” or “Why does the river look like chocolate milk?” so we looked into the reason why.
First off, the Columbia River has not turned into a chocolate river like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, much to Tracci Dial’s disappointment. Instead, experts from Chelan County PUD say the milky brown color is from extra sediment from the river’s bank due to the increase in runoff. The Wenatchee River had seen a flow of about 10,000 cubic feet per second on November 13th to about 18,000 cubic feet per second on November 16th.
Nearby rivers that feed into the Columbia have also seen an increase in runoff from the recent rain storms here in the Pacific Northwest.
