Planned release reductions from Fort Peck Dam will be delayed until the end of September, due to the ongoing drought and recent extremely dry weather in eastern Montana.
Farmers in the area will be able to continue irrigating crops until harvest begins later in September.
“We have assessed the potential impacts of this action and determined that this would have minimal impacts in the upper basin, and no impacts on the Missouri River Mainstem Reservoir System’s overall ability to meet its authorized purposes given the change will not impact total system storage, said John Remus, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division Chief.
“The primary impacts to be expected include slightly less power generation capacity through the upcoming winter and a slightly lower Fort Peck Lake pool at the beginning of the 2023 runoff season.”
Maintaining the higher releases from Fort Peck Dam through the end of the month will not impact System releases from Gavins Point dam through the remainder of 2022, and will not impact the forecast operations in 2023.
The USACE understands the important role of the Missouri River in providing water for irrigation, municipal, and industrial uses throughout the basin. Operating the System to meet all the water supply needs of the basin to the extent reasonably possible is the USACE goal. However, the USACE does not provide and cannot guarantee access to the water. Maintaining access to the water is the individual facility owner/operator’s responsibility.
Current release information from Fort Peck Dam can be followed here: https://www.nwd-mr.usace.army.mil/rcc/programs/data/FTPK.
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