Vancouver Lake is located just west of Vancouver, Washington, United States, north of the Columbia River and Portland, Oregon, south of Ridgefield, Washington, and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. The sources for Vancouver Lake's water include a flushing channel (equipped with tidal gates to control flows) from the Columbia River near the southwest shoreline and Burnt Bridge Creek on the eastern shoreline, which winds about ten miles (sixteen kilometres) through many of the city's residential areas. Until the 1980s, this creek was neglected and a major source of pollution for the lake.