The US Army Corps of Engineers continues to steadily release water from the Upper Missouri River Dam System in an effort to have flood control storage space empty before the water freezes over later this year.
Mike Swenson with the Missouri River Water Management Division in Omaha says a maintenance project on one of the hydropower units at the Oahe Dam started yesterday (Aug. 26). He says there’s no change to the overall release amount, but some water is being released through the dam and some water is being released through two of the outlet tunnels.
Video of the tubes being opened Monday morning, Aug. 26, 2019, taken by Patrick Callahan with permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfCSl8DENpM[/embedyt]
Lake Oahe has played a pivotal role in this year’s runoff season by capturing flood waters from upstream mountain snowmelt and heavy rainfall in the Yellowstone River basin, which fell in May and June. The Corps used Oahe’s storage capacity to hold water, helping to mitigate flooding along southern parts of the Missouri River following heavy rain events. The Garrison Dam near Riverdale, ND, and the Oahe Dam at Pierre/Fort Pierre, SD, are the two biggest reservoirs along the upper Missouri River Dam System having nearly 50-million acre feet of combined water storage.
To view the detailed three-week release forecast for the mainstem dams, go to http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/twregfcast.pdf
Missouri River Basin daily update:
http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/pdfs/weeklyupdate.pdf
All US Army Corps managed dams–reservoir levels, inflows and releases:
http://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/reports/pdfs/MRBWM_River_Daily.pdf
