Saco River - Definition and Overview

The Saco River is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of 1,703 square miles of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean 134 miles from its origin.

It rises at Saco Lake in Crawford Notch in the White Mountains and flows generally SSE through Bartlett and Conway in Carroll County, New Hampshire before crossing into York County, Maine. After running through six hydropower stations, it crosses under Interstate 95 and passes between Saco and Biddeford, where it is bridged by U.S. Highway 1. It enters Saco Bay on the Atlantic just south of Old Orchard Beach.

• EPA Saco River Watershed Profile (http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/huc.cfm?huc_code=01060002)