The US Army Corps of Engineers has reduced releases from Garrison Dam at Bismarck, ND, to a rate of 54-thousand cubic feet per second. The rate will drop to 50-thousand cfs Thursday.
Under current conditions, the Oahe Dam has inflows (55,000) of 3,700 cfs more than it’s releasing (51,300 cfs). That should change Monday when releases are forecast to be 800 cfs more than inflows (in at 49,200 cfs and releases at 50,000 cfs).
The Garrison Dam is currently using 79.7 percent of its flood control holding capacity. The Oahe Dam is using 75.7 percent and the Fort Peck Dam is using 74.8 percent of its capacity. The lower three dams are below 44 percent of their storage capacity. Averaged together, the six dams along the Upper Missouri River are at 69.7 percent of their flood control capacity.
Chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division John Remus says the Corps still has to lower the pool elevation at Garrison Dam about 14 feet before the lakes and river ices over. He says they release water year round, but by December, releases are restricted by the capacity of the iced over river channel and are rarely more than 20,000 cfs.
