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West
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The drainage area for the West Fork of Portage Creek includes portions of Texas Township, Oshtemo Township, the City of Portage and the City of Kalamazoo. The creek flows for approximately 8.1 miles in a general northeast to east direction from its headwaters at Scouters Pond in Texas Township to Portage Creek close to Milham Park in the City of Kalamazoo. Several impoundments and small lakes exist within the water course. The West Branch flows through the Rota-Kiwan Boy Scout Reservation, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, the Al Sabo Preserve (well field for the City of Kalamazoo), and suburban residential areas to the southern area of the Parkview Hills Planned Unit Development. Water stemming from the Asylum Lake area also connects to the West Branch through a series of small, linked ponds and wetlands near Parkview Hills. From here the stream flows through more ponds, residential neighborhoods, a small City of Kalamazoo well field, commercial properties in the Cities of Portage and Kalamazoo, to the Blanch Hull Preserve and the confluence with Portage Creek. Of the 15,170 acres in the West Branch of Portage Creek Subwatershed, 8,778 were determined to contribute direct surface runoff and/or storm sewer flow to the creek. The non-contributing areas (areas that do not contribute water to the creek, but do contribute water to lakes and groundwater) include municipal retention basins, private retention areas, Whites Lake in Kalamazoo, Crooked, Eagle, Duck and Pretty Lakes in Texas Township, and approximately 5,800 acres of rural, non-sewered land within this sub-watershed. The drainage area includes land uses of approximately 18.3% urban, 50.7% open space and forest, 7.7% water/wetlands and 23.5% agriculture. Drinking water pumping stations are known to impact the surface water levels and lower them if too much groundwater is pumped.
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