By: NATHAN STUEDLE
Persistent drought conditions are forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce water releases from Gavins Point Dam and shorten the Missouri River navigation season. The Corps says navigation flow support will end November fifteenth, more than two weeks earlier than the normal December first date. Water releases began declining November sixth and are being reduced by three thousand cubic feet per second each day until reaching nine thousand.
John Remus, chief of the Corps' Missouri River Water Management Division, says the reductions are necessary to conserve reservoir storage during ongoing drought conditions. October runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City reached just sixty-one percent of average. Approximately sixty percent of the basin is experiencing abnormally dry or drought conditions. Winter releases beginning December first are expected to be twelve thousand cubic feet per second. Reservoir storage is also projected to remain low heading into the 2027 runoff season.