LOW MISSOURI RIVER IMPACTS ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION

Despite the threat of continued drought, the U-S Army Corps of Engineers is planning on a "normal" navigation season for 2013 on the Missouri River.

Bill Doan, a water engineer in the Corps' Omaha office, says levels on the river will be low, but it will be navigable.



Based on the water available now, Doan says the Corps expects an eight-month navigation season in the year ahead. Doan says the low water now in the up-river reservoirs will definitely have an impact on hydro-electric power production.



River levels were exceptionally low all of last year due to the severe drought, which followed record flooding on the Missouri which lasted a large portion of 2011.

A Radio Iowa contributed story