Corps Of Engineers Mulls Over Plan For Missouri River Flow

The Army Corps of Engineers is considering two different options for the management of the Missouri River this year. One option is called flow-to-target and allows the Corps to put as much water in the basin as is necessary to keep barge navigation going. The other is a steady release option that would have a constant amount released from the reservoirs in the Dakotas. Jody Farhat with the Corps says that steady release could mean some days in the driest times of the summer when river levels fall below minimum navigation levels, and she says that’s even after the Corps bumped up the amount in the steady release. Farhat says the Corps has to consult with the US Fish and Wildlife to use the flow-to-target option. She expects the Corps to pick one of the options sometime in early Spring.