Army Corps of Engineers Explains Plan to Bring Down Mo. River Levels
By: William Seay
Updated: November 27, 2012
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) The Missouri River is looking a little low these days.
The current river stage in St. Joseph is still above seven feet, but it's expected to drop down close to four feet by early December.
This year's drought has left the US Army Corps of Engineers with the task of water conservation; in the coming weeks, they'll be decreasing the amount of water that's released from dams upstream.
"The decreases in releases are just reflective of what we do annually in alignment with the master manual guidelines," said Army Corps spokesperson Monique Farmer.
As winter approaches, the Corps usually decreases the flow, but they will be releasing only about 12,000 cubic feet of water per second by December 11.
That's low, even by their standards.
"As an early conservation measure and also in alignment with the master manual, decreasing those releases down to 12,000 this winter is a measure that we're taking to conserve water in our system," Farmer said.
They're conserving water in the reservoirs upstream - reservoirs that are usually used for recreation.
Farmer says recreation is one of the eight activity categories they're congressionally mandated to protect.
Because of the severe drought this year, these reservoirs could lose between 10 and 12 feet of water.
Yet not everyone is happy with the Army Corps of Engineers' decision.
In a letter written earlier this month, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon urges the Corps not to go forward with their plan.
He writes:
"With the continuing and projected lack of adequate precipitation, additional barge traffic restrictions on - or even closure of - the Mississippi River channel become imminent possibilities. I urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to avert potential economic disaster on this vital avenue American farmers use to get their goods into the world market"
The Governor wants to prevent situations of barges struggling to traverse very low river levels.
The Army Corps' response to this viewpoint is quite simple:
"We do not have legal authority to operate the Missouri River solely for the benefits of navigation on the Mississippi River."
Locally, the river stands to go down a few more feet.
The Army Corps of Engineers says they will continue to monitor the amount of snow that falls in the mountain regions over the winter.
That snow is vital to the forecast for how much water will runoff into the river basin.
They'll make a decision on changing any other dam release rates by early March, 2013.
The current river stage in St. Joseph is still above seven feet, but it's expected to drop down close to four feet by early December.
This year's drought has left the US Army Corps of Engineers with the task of water conservation; in the coming weeks, they'll be decreasing the amount of water that's released from dams upstream.
"The decreases in releases are just reflective of what we do annually in alignment with the master manual guidelines," said Army Corps spokesperson Monique Farmer.
As winter approaches, the Corps usually decreases the flow, but they will be releasing only about 12,000 cubic feet of water per second by December 11.
That's low, even by their standards.
"As an early conservation measure and also in alignment with the master manual, decreasing those releases down to 12,000 this winter is a measure that we're taking to conserve water in our system," Farmer said.
They're conserving water in the reservoirs upstream - reservoirs that are usually used for recreation.
Farmer says recreation is one of the eight activity categories they're congressionally mandated to protect.
Because of the severe drought this year, these reservoirs could lose between 10 and 12 feet of water.
Yet not everyone is happy with the Army Corps of Engineers' decision.
In a letter written earlier this month, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon urges the Corps not to go forward with their plan.
He writes:
"With the continuing and projected lack of adequate precipitation, additional barge traffic restrictions on - or even closure of - the Mississippi River channel become imminent possibilities. I urge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to avert potential economic disaster on this vital avenue American farmers use to get their goods into the world market"
The Governor wants to prevent situations of barges struggling to traverse very low river levels.
The Army Corps' response to this viewpoint is quite simple:
"We do not have legal authority to operate the Missouri River solely for the benefits of navigation on the Mississippi River."
Locally, the river stands to go down a few more feet.
The Army Corps of Engineers says they will continue to monitor the amount of snow that falls in the mountain regions over the winter.
That snow is vital to the forecast for how much water will runoff into the river basin.
They'll make a decision on changing any other dam release rates by early March, 2013.
