Gavins Point Dam
By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Water releases into the Missouri River from Gavins Point Dam will be reduced, beginning Saturday.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it will reduce releases from Gavins Point from the current 80,000 cubic feet per second to 75,000 cfs on Saturday. The Corps plans to gradually reduce water releases from Gavins Point over the next two weeks.
The schedule released by the Corps would drop releases from Gavins Point to 70,000 cfs on November 27th. The Crops plans to drop releases from Gavins Point daily, beginning Tuesday, December 3rd. Releases on the 3rd are expected to fall to 65,000 cfs, dropping another 5,000 cfs on the 4th, down to 57,000 cfs on the 5th, and down to 54,000 cfs on Friday, December 6th. The drop will reduce the strain on the Missouri River levee system. The Missouri River has been at some level of flood stage since mid-March.
The Corps began reducing releases from the Missouri River mainstem dams today at Garrison Dam with releases at Randall Dam set to begin Friday, then reducing releases at Gavins Point Dam on Saturday.
Upstream flows into the reservoirs at Fort Randall and Gavins Point Dams this month have been lower than forecast. The elevation at Garrison Dam is dropping faster than forecast, dropping storage on the Missouri River Mainstem System faster than planned.
The Corps now expects system storage by the end of the month to total 57.4 million acre feet, approximately 0.3 MAF lower than the November 1st forecast.