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  • Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Lakes low levels impact recreation and safety

    Officials with the Fort Worth District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Project Offices at Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Lakes are currently experiencing lower than normal lake levels. Due to these conditions, swim beaches and various boat ramps may be closed throughout the summer season. Current lake levels are low enough that all designated swim beaches at Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Lakes are out of the water and will remain closed until further notice. The public is still allowed to swim in the lakes, but we urge you to exercise extreme caution and be on the lookout for submerged hazards. As always, please wear a life jacket when in, on or near the water.

  • Missouri River Spring Virtual Public Meeting - Make Up - April 20

    A virtual make up meeting has been scheduled for April 20 at 1 p.m. after two in-person meetings were canceled due to weather on April 4. The virtual meeting can be accessed at the QR code and the url in the graphic.

  • Upper basin runoff forecast improves with spring precipitation

    The latest 2023 calendar year runoff forecast for the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa is showing improvement. The 2023 calendar year runoff forecast above Sioux City is 26.4 million acre-feet (MAF), 103% of average. The runoff forecast is based on current soil moisture conditions, plains snowpack, mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation and temperature outlooks. March runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City was 1.7 MAF, 57% of average.    

  • Upper basin runoff forecast below average; Gavins Point releases to increase for navigation flow support; April public meetings

    The updated 2023 calendar year runoff forecast for the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, continues to be below average. The 2023 calendar year runoff forecast above Sioux City is 21.5 million acre feet, 84% of average. The runoff forecast is based on current soil moisture conditions, plains snowpack, mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation and temperature outlooks. February runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City was 1.0 MAF, 86% of average.

  • Memphis District's Dredge Hurley returns home ending most productive, longest season on record

    The Memphis District’s Dredge Hurley returned to its home port, Ensley Engineer Yard in Memphis Harbor on Jan. 13, 2023, after finishing a record-breaking 273-day season, which began Apr. 26, 2022. In those eight and a half months, the 36-person crew dredged 14.5 million cubic yards of material, which is the most the Dredge Hurley has ever removed in a single season.

  • Record setting dredging season comes to an end

    The Dredge Potter crew finished up an unprecedented 2022-23 season on February 1, 2023, that required tremendous teamwork to maintain the congressionally mandated nine-foot-deep, 300-foot-wide navigation channel and overcome the challenges from the widespread drought, and prolonged extreme low water that affected the Mississippi River basin. Dredging operations moved nine million cubic yards of material, at 70 different locations along 300 miles of the St. Louis District. In total, seven dredging units -- dustpan, cutterhead and mechanical -- were working throughout the St. Louis District area of responsibility. Two other units, for a total of nine, supported Mississippi Valley Division efforts on the Mississippi River.

  • Below average runoff continues for the upper Missouri River Basin in 2023

    The updated 2023 calendar year runoff forecast for the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa, continues to be below average. January runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City was 1.1 million acre-feet, 134% of average. Runoff was above average due to warmer-than-normal temperatures in the upper basin resulting in some snowmelt runoff.

  • Dry Conditions expected to persist for the Missouri River Basin

    For the 2022 calendar year, Missouri River basin runoff above Sioux City, Iowa totaled 19.3 million acre-feet, 75% of average. This was the 30th lowest annual runoff for the Missouri River Basin in 125 years of record-keeping. The ongoing drought shows little relief in sight and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts runoff into the mainstem reservoir system will remain below normal. For 2023, runoff in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa is forecast to be 20.8 MAF, 81% of average.

  • Releases from Gavins Point Dam reduced to winter rates

    Flow support for the 2022 Missouri River navigation season ended Nov. 21 as releases were reduced toward winter rates at Gavins Point Dam. “Releases from Gavins Point Dam are being reduced to the winter release of 12,000 cubic feet per second,” said John Remus, Chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

  • Gavins Point Dam releases to be reduced to winter release rate in late November

    Six public meetings were held during the week of Oct. 24 to present current hydrologic conditions and the planned operation of the Missouri River mainstem reservoir system for the remainder of 2022. The public meetings were held in six locations in the Missouri River basin and a virtual public meeting was held Nov. 3. The meetings included draft plans for regulating the system in 2023. “We will continue to make releases from Gavins Point Dam to provide flow support at a level 500 cubic feet per second above minimum service, through the end of the navigation flow support season,” said John Remus, chief of the USACE, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division. “The flow support season will end three days early, on Nov. 28, at the mouth of the Missouri River.”