Rollin' on the River

Corps of Engineers discuss ‘liquid highway’
by Marshall White
originally published in St. Joseph News-Press - February 9, 2011
original link: http://www.newspressnow.com/localnews/26814051/detail.html

KANSAS CITY — The liquid highway is at St. Joseph’s western doorstep and will be about as good as it can get in 2011.

That was the word from Army Corps of Engineers officials, in Kansas City on Wednesday to meet with navigators, shippers and boaters.

“For Missouri River users, this is as good as it’s going to get,” said John LaRandeau, the corps’ navigation program specialist.



In fact, this may be the best the river has been in about the last 40 years, he said.

Total storage in the corps’ six mainstream reservoirs sits at 56.9 million acre feet, down 9 million acre feet from the crest last July.

“We are currently monitoring snow conditions on the plains, which are similar to the above-normal conditions we saw in both 2009 and 2010,” said Jody Farhat, Water Management Division chief. “Mountain snowpack is running ahead of last year.”

The reservoirs on the upper Missouri River will be able to handle the snowpack, Ms. Farhat said.

Runoff for 2011 is forecast to total 28.4 million acre feet, or 114 percent of normal. The 2010 total was 38.8 million acre feet, or 156 percent of normal.

Releases from Gavins Point, the dam above Omaha near Crofton, Neb., were increased from 19,000 to 21,000 cubic feet per second in early February and are expected to remain at that level through mid-March. But they may be adjusted if necessary to avoid ice jams or downstream rises from tributaries.

This weekend will see lower Missouri River tributaries below Gavins Point sending large amounts of their snowpack into the river, as temperatures climb into the 40-degree range, Ms. Farhat said. But the big unknown continues to be the rainfall.

Last year’s high runoff in the Missouri River basin, and the resulting flooding, was due in large part to heavy rains in April, May and June, Ms. Farhat said.

There may be some good news that would help reduce the possibility of flooding on the lower Missouri River. There appears to be a drought developing in eastern Colorado, as well as parts of western Kansas and Nebraska, Ms. Farhat said.

Regardless of the weather, right now the corps predicts it will be able to support a full navigation season. And there is a possibility that in July, the corps will announce a 10-day extension of the navigation season for December.

“We will provide the highway this year with a channel that’s 300 feet wide and an 8.5-foot draft for vessels and barges,” Mr. LaRandeau said.