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Hazards in King County rivers

Hazards in King County rivers

Due to the changeable nature of rivers, King County cannot provide or maintain a current or comprehensive list of known hazards in King County rivers. The last river inspections were conducted early summer 2019 and there is no future intent to proactively inspect or monitor specific river hazards. As of September 2022, King County will no longer sign individual river hazards and this webpage will be discontinued. For information on water safety please visit Public Health – Seattle & King County.
Warning Rivers are Dangerous

CAUTION: Boating and river-related recreation is, by its very nature, hazardous. It could result in serious bodily injury, damage or loss of equipment or even death. The decision to accept these risks is entirely your own. When choosing to boat or play in in rivers, there is no substitute for skill, knowledge or personal judgment.

Before making any floating or boating trips on the river, routes should be scouted from the shore to learn current channel conditions. Such scouting won't always be possible. Riverbank property is often privately owned. Some riverbank property in public ownership is so thickly vegetated that scouting would be difficult. Furthermore, not all hazards in a river will be visible above the waterline.

Signage to warn river users of specific hazards is unreliable as a navigation tool due to vandalism and changing river conditions. King County urges that river users learn the dangers and changeable conditions that create hazardous conditions, and develop the skill, knowledge and personal judgement to not put themselves at risk.

Information important for river users

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