(Radio Iowa) – The drought has eased across much of the Midwest, but dry conditions persist in the upper Missouri River basin, prompting the U-S Army Corps of Engineers to keep releases from Gavins Point Dam at the minimum rate. John Remus, chief of the Corp’s Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, says there is a big difference between conditions in the upper and lower basins.  “Primarily Nebraska, parts of Kansas, and here in Missouri, they’ve kind of come out of drought,” Remus says. “The upper basin, however, we thought we were going to have some improvements, but just kind of went back into drought.”

After four years of drought, heavy rains brought Iowa completely out of the drought this spring, but abnormally dry conditions are returning, and now cover about two-thirds of the state. Remus says the long-range forecast doesn’t provide much hope for improvement. “Based on the soil conditions and the long-term outlook from NOAA, I think we’re probably going to have another dry spring, unless we get a lot of snow in the mountains and a lot of snow in the plains, but they’re not calling for that,” Remus says. “So I think we’re going to be in a very similar situation to begin 2025 as we were this year in 2024.” Remus says he understands the continued minimum water releases puts pressure on cities, businesses, and utilities that rely on the Missouri River.

Gavins Point Dam (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)

“Right now, we’re looking at a winter release of 12,000 cubic feet per second out of Gavin’s Point, which is very similar to what we had in the winter of 2022-23,” he says. “There are going to be some municipal intakes in the lower river here that are going to be right at the margin of having some issues with getting water in.”

The Corps of Engineers reports 73-percent of the Missouri River Basin is experiencing dry or drought conditions.