Tagged: missouri river

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt are joining the chorus expressing concern over the Army Corps of Engineers plan to reduce flow from an Missouri River reservoir, potentially affecting shipping on the Mississippi River.

This year’s severe drought caused record low inflows in September in the Missouri River basin.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says runoff from the six dams that feed the Missouri River will be below normal the rest of the year.

In a news release, Corps officials say the July runoff forecast shows below-normal runoff for the rest of 2012. It’s at 87-percent of normal north of Sioux City.

Jody Farhat, chief of the Omaha District’s Water Management Division, says the lower runoff means normal operating conditions. It won’t affect the navigation season, which ends November 24th at Omaha.

The Missouri River is expected to drop nearly three feet at Omaha at the end of this week as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inspects Gavins Point Dam.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to build a new, three-mile long levee near Nebraska City.

The $12.9 million project will re-align levee L-575 along Highway 2. It’ll be built further away from the Missouri River than the existing section of levee. Once it’s built, the existing levee at that location in Fremont County, Iowa, will be torn down. The Corps of Engineers awarded a contract earlier this week for the levee setback project.