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Drought reduces amount of water in Missouri River

Ag/Outdoor, News, Weather

August 7th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Army Corps of Engineers is again reducing its prediction for how much water will flow down the Missouri River this year because of the drought.  The corps now predicts 21 million acre-feet of runoff this year in the 2,341-mile-long river that flows from Montana through North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. That forecast is about 85 percent of normal, and well below last year’s record amount of 61.2 million acre-feet of runoff. Flooding along the river last year caused massive damage, but this year the amount of snowmelt and rain flowing into the river is below normal.  Some of the extra water stored in reservoirs along the river has been used to provide enough water for navigation, power and other uses of the river.