The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers continues to prepare the Missouri River Mainstem System for the 2020 runoff season.
Missouri River power production team leader Mike Swenson says all water from 2019 is out of the reservoir system.
Swenson says reservoirs at Fort Peck, Garrison, Oahe and Fort Randall are all near their annual flood control and multiple use zones.
Swenson says the release rate at Gavins Point at Yankton was increased from 30,000 cubic feet per second to 35,000 cfs this week to make more room in the upper reservoirs.
Gavins Point Dam winter releases normally range between 12,000 and 17,000 cfs. The higher-than-average winter releases from Gavins Point allow the Corps to maintain more flood storage for a longer period.
The 2019 calendar year runoff was 60.9 million acre-feet, the second highest runoff in 121 years of record-keeping (1898-2018), exceeded only by the 61.0 MAF of runoff observed in 2011.
Hear the presentation in this KGFX Beyond the Mic podcast.
