Releases from Gavins Point Dam were reduced to 73,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) Saturday morning, March 16 and will reduced over the coming days reaching 20,000 cfs on Tuesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today.

According to the National Weather Service, tributary flows into Gavins Point Dam, primarily from the Niobrara River have dropped significantly over the past 48 hours.

On Friday morning, the peak pool elevation at Gavins Point was 1212.3 feet, which is 2.3 feet above the exclusive flood control pool. The top of the exclusive flood control pool is 1210.0 feet, at the top of the closed spillway gates.

This morning, the pool elevation at Gavins Point Dam was 1211.3 feet; the pool level is expected to decline below 1210.0 feet by this evening.

“For us to reduce releases from 90,000 cfs to 20,000 cfs, we are reducing releases in 10,000-cfs steps every 12 hours. The inflows from the Niobrara are declining at a faster rate, so we are initiating releases from Fort Randall, to balance the Gavins Point inflows with its releases. Releases from Fort Randall do not affect the release schedule at Gavins Point Dam. The travel time for the releases from to Fort Randall to reach the Gavins Point reservoir is about 36 hours,” said Chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Water Management Division, John Remus.

The current Gavins Point release schedule is:

• 63,000 cfs Saturday evening
• 53,000 cfs Sunday morning
• 43,000 cfs Sunday evening
• 33,000 cfs Monday morning
• 23,000 cfs Monday evening
• 20,000 cfs Tuesday morning

Please note: the release schedule can change based on changing reservoir inflow and/or downstream river conditions.

Gavins Point release changes take two to three days to reach Omaha, three to four days to reach Nebraska City, and four to five days to reach Kansas City, Missouri.

The National Weather Service forecasts indicate that high river stages will remain from the unregulated tributaries that flow into the Missouri River downstream of Gavins Point.

Corps dams, including the Salt Creek and Papillion Creek dams in the Omaha District and Kansas River and Republican River dams in the Kansas City District, are reducing downstream river stages by capturing and storing runoff from flash snowmelt caused by rain on snow on frozen saturated soil.

These dams will experience higher pool elevations and potential recreation area and boat ramp closures as they store floodwater.

These dams are designed to capture floodwater and are performing well. As pool elevations increase, protocols include increased surveillance of these projects. No dam safety concerns have been reported.

In the upper five Missouri River dams, system storage is 56.6 million acre feet; 0.5 MAF of the 16.3 MAF of flood control storage is occupied. About 97 percent of the flood control storage is available to store runoff this spring and summer.

National Weather Service river forecasts are indicating very high flows and stages throughout the lower Basin.

Mountain snowpack accumulation remains about average.