Saco River

Saco River in Crawford Notch

Catchment area of ​​the Saco River

Saco River in Saco, Maine - View from U.S. Highway 1

The Saco River is a 216 km long river in northwestern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States.

It drains a rural area of 4411 km ² embossed west and southwest of Portland and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It provides drinking water for 250,000 people.

Course

The Saco River arises in Saco Lake in Crawford Notch in Coos County in the U.S. state of New Hampshire in the mountains of the White Mountains. It runs in a south- southeasterly direction through the Carroll County, New Hampshire and Oxford County and in Maine. Later he drives six hydropower stations and is crossed by Interstate 95 and reaches the York County. There it flows between Saco and Biddeford through, which are connected by a bridge on U.S. Highway 1. It reaches its estuary on the Atlantic Ocean at Saco Bay of the Gulf of Maine between Camp Ellis and Hills Beach.

Hydrographic

The United States Geological Survey entertaining the course of the river two level measuring stations. The first is located in Conway ( ⊙ 43.990833333333-71.091388888889 ). The discharge rate at this point is in the long-term average ( 1904-2006 ) 27 m³ / s The peak value was 1339 m³ / s on March 27, 1953 and the lowest value at about 1 m / s was recorded on August 4, 1959. The second level is located in Cornish, below the confluence of the Ossipee River ( ⊙ 43.808055555556-70.781388888889 ). The highest runoff was here on 21-22. March 1936 with 1322 m³ s recorded / and the lowest on October 7, 1964 was 7 m³ / s The long-term average since 1916 is 77 m³ / s

Main tributaries

  • Dry River
  • Sawyer River
  • Rocky Branch
  • Ellis River
  • East Branch Saco River
  • Swift River
  • Cold River / Charles River
  • Kezar Lake
  • Kezar River
  • Shepards River
  • Tenmile River
  • Ossipee River
  • Little Ossipee River

Covered Bridges

In Conway Saco River Covered Bridge spans the river.

Hydropower plants

In the course of the river Saco River are several hydroelectric plants.

The hydropower plants in downstream direction:

White Mountains (New Hampshire) Ellis River (New Hampshire) Swift River (Saco River) Biddeford, Maine Saco (Maine) Town Municipality U.S. Route 1 Carroll County (New Hampshire) Oxford County (Maine) York County (Maine)
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