Levels on the Missouri
and Mississippi
Rivers continue to drop. One of the
consequences of low river levels is the dangers it poses to navigation,
especially to barge
traffic. Low levels have exposed rocks
and sand bars on both rivers.
Barges on these rivers transport
a lot of goods, especially commodities. This is a significant part of the economy
of states
along these rivers, especially those on the lower Mississippi River. For instance, in Missouri
the Missouri
Economic Research and Information Center estimated that nearly $3 billion
in Missouri commodities, mostly agricultural
products, are shipped on water. Water freight
generates an estimated $388 million annually in gross
state product (GSP) in
Missouri.
To some degree, flow in these rivers is controlled by dams
operated by the U.S. Army
Corp of Engineers. Officials and
businesses along the Mississippi River have asked the Corp to release more
water. The Corp agreed, and on December
15 began releasing water Carlyle
Lake (a little more than 50 miles east of St. Louis)
on the Kaskaskia
River, which flows into the Mississippi River a few a few miles downstream
of Ste.
Genevieve, Missouri.
The Corp has tried to tame these rivers for more than a century,
managing them for navigation, flood
control, and other purposes. It may not
get any easier. Many are predicting that
climate
change will result in more droughts
and flooding along with more frequent extreme high and low levels of water in
the rivers.
A couple of days ago, IW was quick to draw
knives on a proposal to pump water from the Missouri River to the Colorado
River through a pipeline that would run from Leavenworth,
Kansas,
to Denver,
Colorado. Recently Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
admitted that this was not a practicable plan and that western states need to
seek solutions elsewhere.
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