Corps increasing water flowing into lower Missouri River

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The amount of water being released into the Missouri River from Gavins Point Dam will be increased again to free up more space in the reservoirs upstream before spring.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday that the amount of water flowing out of Gavins Point on the Nebraska-South Dakota border will be increased later this week to 41,000 cubic feet per second. That is up from the current 35,000 cubic feet per second.

The current releases from Gavins Point dam are more than double what is typical for this time of year.

The Corps is working to clear out as much space as possible in the reservoirs ahead of what is expected to be another wet year.

“This is keeping with our aggressive strategy to maintain as much flood control storage as possible for as long as possible," said John Remus, who leads the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.

Overall, the reservoirs along the Missouri River currently have 16.2 million acre feet of space available for flood control.