(Omaha, NE) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking steps to mitigate ice build up in the Missouri River this winter. John Remus, chief with the Corps of Engineers, says it starts with careful monitoring of the forecast for possible ice conditions.
"We'll raise the releases from Gavins Point Dam maybe a couple thousand (cubit feet per second) to kind of counter that, what we call the ice bite, the depletion of water, for a few day."
Remus says conditions and releases will be adjusted to the extent practical to lessen the impacts of river ice formation.
Several agencies are taking steps to monitor ice levels on the Missouri River again this winter, partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including the the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) and the Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD).
"Their operations depend on being able to get cooling water to their intakes, so they're pretty sensitive to that," Remus says, "we just try to keep the paths of communications open, they tell us what they're seeing on the river, we tell them what we're seeing, and then we can make hopefully a better decision that can prevent any catastrophic consequences."
Remus says ice is not as easy to predict as other weather patterns.