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Can We Manage River Flows More Flexibly?
| 题名： | Can We Manage River Flows More Flexibly? |
| 正文语种： | eng |
| 摘要： | At the November 1 virtual press event sponsored by the Mississippi River Cities & Towns Initiative (MRCTI), the Mississippi River mayors put forth seven policy proposals to help forge a national drought policy-something the United States does not currently have. Several of the mayors who spoke said the effects of a severe drought like this one on their communities are worse and last longer than the effects of floods.One of the proposals of the mayors was for better inter-basin coordination during times of drought or flood. Which brings us to the Missouri River, whose flow is managed for eight authorized purposes. One of these is navigation-but only Missouri River navigation, not Mississippi River navigation, despite the fact that during droughts, the Missouri River contributes as much as a third of the Lower Mississippi's flow.On November 20, the Gavins Point reservoir on the Missouri River will shut off its flow. It will take about a week for the lowered volumes to arrive at the confluence with the Mississippi River. In 2021, the St. Louis gage read 2.41 feet on November 30, and was down to .73 feet by December 3. In 2020, the St. Louis gage read 9.47 feet on November 30, and was down to 6.46 feet by December 3. Unless Mother Nature obliges us with some rain that is not in the forecast, the Mississippi River at St. Louis can expect to lose an additional l-1/2 to 2 feet of water in the coming weeks.It would take an act of Congress to change the authorized purposes of the Missouri Rivers six reservoirs to allow the Corps to consider Mississippi River navigation as well as Missouri River navigation. What would be even better,though, would be Congress giving the Corps its own authority to react flexibly to major events like this years drought, without having to run back to Congress. If Congress is wary about giving one entity that much authority, perhapsthe Corps could exercise it in consultation with other federal agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency and/or the U.S. Department of the Interior. There might be defined parameters of drought or flood emergency that could trigger this authority to act. That might mean modifying parts of the 1944 Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act. There are many ways to go, but its a discussion at least worth having. |
| 出版年： | 2022 |
| 期刊名称： | The Waterways Jouranl |
| 卷： | 136 |
| 期： | 32 |
| 页码： | 4-4 |
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