OLYMPIA - Scientists have developed a new technique to help the state determine the potential for rivers to be considered navigable, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
     According to its Constitution, the state owns the bed and shore of any navigable waterway. Because the Constitution doesn’t say what "navigable" means, the state Department of Natural Resources needs an objective measurement of whether a river or stream is potentially navigable, USGS officials said.
     In cooperation with the DNR, scientists from the USGS Washington Water Science Center developed a new technique that predicts the depth and width of any stream or river channel, based on its average annual stream flow.
     The predicted physical characteristics are mapped to show the navigability potential of rivers across the state, according to the USGS.
     "Although ultimately the courts determine navigability, maps produced by our technique show which rivers in the state are potentially navigable," said Chris Magirl, USGS hydrologist and lead author of the report on the technique.
     The report, "Navigability Potential of Washington Rivers and Streams Determined with Hydraulic Geometry and a Geographic Information System," by Magirl and Theresa D. Olsen, is published as U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5122.
     It also is available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5122/.
     The project Web page is http://wa.water.usgs.gov/projects/navriver/.