Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The Missouri River basin is in its fourth year of drought, and federal officials say that could affect hydropower production and recreation in the upper basin states.
John Remus is the chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.
“Through this winter, we saw very little Plains snowpack, and that’s pretty much all gone and melted,” he said Wednesday. “Our mountain snowpack is well below average. And we just haven’t had any precipitation.”
The Missouri River basin includes about 530,000 square miles of land that drain into the river in multiple states, including South Dakota, as well as Canada.
Corps officials presented data at a public meeting showing 83% of the basin is abnormally dry and 63% is in drought, and they said drought conditions are likely to persist. Hydropower generation from dams on the river this year is expected to be roughly 20% below average due to low water levels.
Remus said the situation is serious, but not alarming. He said the system of dams and reservoirs managed by the Corps on the river was designed with long droughts in mind.
“It’s not as bad as we’ve seen,” Remus said. “We had a long drought in the early 2000s, where we saw, actually, much lower reservoir levels.”
Remus said the basin also experiences major swings in conditions, including floods. He pointed to the 2024 Big Sioux River flood as an example of how extreme rainfall and flooding can occur even during a span of years with below-average precipitation.
For the general public, Remus said one of the clearest drought effects on the river could be reduced access for recreation. Lower water levels could leave some boat ramps dry and create access problems at marinas.
“I don’t want to call it critical or make it look like we’re in some desperate situation, because we’re not,” Remus said.
The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission, which manages many access points along the river, plans to hear a Missouri River outlook presentation during its meeting Thursday and Friday in Pierre.