Corps of Engineers increases releases from Gavins Point Dam, again

By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Gavins Point Dam/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo

Water releases from Missouri River upstream dams will be increased as runoff from heavy rain and northern snowmelt pour more water into the Missouri River Basin.

Chief of Missouri River Water Management John Remus with the Army Corps of Engineers Northwest Division says the Corps plans to increase water releases from Gavins Point Dam from 65,000 cubic feet per second to 70,000 today.

“Just about every time it rains, we see a significant increase in the runoff. It just is not prudent to run these reservoirs all the way to the top and give us zero flexibility to manage runoff events,” Remus tells a Corps of Engineers conference call.

Remus says that if the Corps doesn’t increase runoffs now, future runoffs would be even more destructive to flooded areas downstream. The Corps had increased releases from Gavins Point to 60,000, then increased it to 65,000. Remus holds out the possibility that an increase to 70,000 today won’t be enough to handle the influx of water into the six upstream Missouri River dams.

The Corps says rainfall over much of Nebraska, South Dakota, and central North Dakota has been 200 to 600% of normal the past few days. The continued rain has led to higher inflows at Oahe, Big Bend, Fort Randall, and Gavins Point Dams.

The increase comes as northwest Missouri battles renewed flooding. The extra water being poured into the system will add to the pressure on a Missouri River Basin levee system saturated. Many levees are broken.

Chief of Emergency Management Jud Kneuvean with the Corps’ Kansas City District admits he worries how the increased releases will impact dams already straining under the pressure of floodwaters.

“But the answer is ‘Yes.’ We are constantly evaluating that and constantly concerned that the levee systems won’t be able to take anything else,” Kneuvean says.

Kneuvean notes the levee system has had to hold up under flood conditions since mid-March. Kneuvean says, overall, the federal levee system is performing well. Other private levees have been failing up and down the Missouri River.