The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it’s listening, it’s going to be more flexible, and its going to communicate better.
In a news release Monday, the Corps promised to be more aggressive and communicate better as we approach the 2012 flood season.
The Corps of Engineers recently concluded eight public meetings throughout the Missouri River basin to listen to the concerns of citizens as part of the Annual Operating Plan development. They say those concerns prompted changes.
“The past two weeks have been incredibly beneficial, and we have listened intently to the people we serve,” said Brig. Gen. John McMahon, Northwestern Division Commander. “The top priority of the Northwestern Division is to responsibly prepare for the 2012 runoff season,” he continued.
First, the Corps will assume a more flexible posture as water is evacuated through the system for the remainder of the fall and early winter. “We will get as much water out of the system as possible as weather permits and the repair work allows,” said Jody Farhat, Chief of the Water Management Division.
Second, the Corps will take an aggressive stance with winter and spring releases.
Third, the Corps will communicate more frequently and more broadly as the 2012 season unfolds.
Farhat will conduct bi-monthly conference calls. During those calls, the dialogue will continue with federal, state, county and local officials, Tribes, emergency management officials, independent experts and the press.
Audio files of the conference calls will be widely available.
A primary concern raised in the public meetings was the Corps’ strategy to only evacuate water from the reservoir system back to the designed amount of flood control storage. “We set the target in late July as an initial first step to safely drawdown historic releases in time for people to get back into their homes, farms and businesses, and for the Corps and state agencies to begin making repairs as quickly as possible,” said McMahon.
The reservoir system was designed with 16.3 million acre feet of flood control storage, which equates to approximately 22 percent of the storage in the reservoir system. Given record runoff, the Corps has initiated a technical analysis to determine how much more reservoir space might be reserved for flood control purposes. “The ongoing independent external review will yield additional insights into how we might manage the system better, both near and long term,” McMahon said.
“It is important that we take a holistic approach to operating the reservoir system, an approach that is based on science and engineering, good data and considers the fragility of the system and the ongoing efforts to make critical repairs to get ready for 2012,” he stressed.
Comments on the draft plan were taken during the series of public meetings. Written and email comments will be accepted through Nov. 25. Email comments should be sent to: [email protected].
View daily and forecasted reservoir and river information on the Water Management section of the Northwestern Division homepage at http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc.
The final version of the Annual Operating Plan is expected to be complete by the end of December.