US Army Corps of Engineers BUILDING STRONG ® St. Louis District Low Water Operations Russell Errett Water Control St. Louis District February 2013

BUILDING STRONG ®Overview  St. Louis District Overview  Low Water Operations ► L&D Operations ► Middle Mississippi River Forecast Errors ► Reservoir Deviation/Directive Operations  Middle Mississippi River Rock Removal  Questions

BUILDING STRONG ®USACE

Lake Shelbyville Rend Lake Carlyle Lake Wappapello Lake Mark Twain Lake Mississippi River Illinois River Missouri River St. Louis District

BUILDING STRONG ® District Overview  5 Flood Control Reservoirs Projects ► Lake Shelbyville, Carlyle Lake, Rend Lake, Mark Twain Lake, and Wappapello Lake  5 Lock and Dam Projects ► L&D 24, L&D 25, Mel Price L&D, L&D 27, and Kaskaskia L&D  9 Watersheds draining into the Mississippi River within the St. Louis District ► Salt, Cuivre, Lower Missouri, Meramec, Upper St. Francis, Castor, Lower Illinois, Kaskaskia, and Big Muddy Rivers

BUILDING STRONG ® Mississippi River Illinois River Missouri River Locks and Dams Locks 27 Melvin Price Locks & Dam Kaskaskia L&D L&D 25 Dam 27 L&D 24

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Alton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Low Flow / Flat Pool

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Alton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Increasing / Decreasing Flow

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Alton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Maximum Drawdown

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Alton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Open River

BUILDING STRONG ® Government Owned Flowage Easements Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Low Flow / Flat Pool Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Flow

BUILDING STRONG ® Government Owned Flowage Easements Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Increasing / Decreasing Flow Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Flow

BUILDING STRONG ® Government Owned Flowage Easements Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Flow Maximum Drawdown

BUILDING STRONG ® Government Owned Flowage Easements Mel Price L&D RM L&D 25 RM – Grafton RM – Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0) Flow Open River

BUILDING STRONG ® Hinge Point Operation  Lock and Dam 24 ► Pool Limits: ► Hinge Point Limits, Louisiana: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown)  Lock and Dam 25 ► Pool Limits: ► Hinge Point Limits, Mosier Landing: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown)  Melvin Price Locks and Dam ► Pool Limits: Alton Lower Limit: ► Hinge Point Limits, Grafton: (May be exceeded if at maximum drawdown, or Alton at 414.0)  Kaskaskia Lock and Dam ► Pool Limits: ► Hinge Point, Red Bud:

BUILDING STRONG ® Critical Link Illinois Meredosia Mississippi L&D 22 Missouri Hermann Mississippi St. Louis

BUILDING STRONG ® Middle Mississippi River Low Water

BUILDING STRONG ® Historical Droughts Top 10 Low Water Stages at St. Louis (JAN 1940) (JAN 1963) (JAN 1964) (DEC 1937) (DEC 1989)* (JAN 1957) (JAN 1956) (JAN 2003)* (DEC 1933) (JAN 1954) -4.6 (JAN 2013)* * Indicates instantaneous gage reading vs 08:00 reading.

BUILDING STRONG ® Daily Record Lows : 51 days POR: 14 days Record Low : -5.4 ft (Dec 1989) POR: -6.2 ft (Jan 1940) St. Louis (1861-Present)

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price Low Water Operations  Approved Deviation to hold Mel Price 0.5 ft above maximum regulated pool ► Minimize fluctuations downstream (i.e. St. Louis Harbor) ► Extra storage is used to prevent low dips from L&D operations upstream ► Extra storage can be used to provide a pulse of water to free grounded tows if needed

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price Low Water Operations Actual W/O Mel Price Deviation Mel Price Pool St. Louis Prevented daily +2 ft stage fluctuations at St. Louis

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price Low Water Operations (September & October) Actual W/O Mel Price Deviation Prevented St. Louis from dropping to -4.6 Mel Price Pool St. Louis

BUILDING STRONG ® Mel Price Low Water Operations (December & January) Actual W/O Mel Price Deviation Mel Price Pool St. Louis Prevented St. Louis from dropping to -5.1

BUILDING STRONG ® Extended River Forecast Errors

BUILDING STRONG ®  Currently St. Louis is at -0.7 ft ► 7,000 cfs/ft  Upper Mississippi River Flow Forecast ► Currently ~ 39,200 cfs ► 28 days ~ 21,500 cfs (-17,700 cfs)  Missouri River Flow Forecast ► Currently ~ 48,700 cfs ► 28 days ~ 24,000 cfs (-24,700 cfs)  St. Louis 28 day Forecast ► Loss of 42,400 cfs ~ loss of 6 ft ~ -6.7 ft at St. Louis Extended River Forecast (issued late November)

BUILDING STRONG ® Accounting for Forecast Errors  Assuming St. Louis Low of -5.1 ft (i.e. no Mel Price operation) ► 6,000 cfs/ft  Upper Mississippi River Flow Forecast ► Error ~ -1,140 cfs  Illinois River ► Error ~ -3,000 to -6,000 cfs  Missouri River Flow Forecast ► Error ~ -3,300 cfs  St. Louis Low: ► Loss of 7,440 to 10,440 cfs ~ -6.3 ft to -6.8 ft

BUILDING STRONG ® Reservoir Operations

BUILDING STRONG ® Mississippi River Illinois River Missouri RiverReservoirs Mark Twain Lake Lake Shelbyville Carlyle Lake Rend Lake Wappapello Lake

BUILDING STRONG ® Project Purposes Lake Shelbyville Carlyle Lake Thebes, IL CHESTER, IL CAIRO, IL  Flood Control  Recreation  Fish and Wildlife Conservation  Water Supply  Water Quality  Navigation  Lower Kaskaskia River  Middle Mississippi River

BUILDING STRONG ® Project Purposes Lake Shelbyville Carlyle Lake Thebes, IL CHESTER, IL CAIRO, IL  Navigation  Authorized to release up to bankfull (4,000 cfs from Carlyle Lake)  Can provide at least 0.5 ft increase in stages on the Middle Mississippi during low water

BUILDING STRONG ®Deviations Lake Shelbyville Carlyle Lake Thebes, IL CHESTER, IL CAIRO, IL  Approved Deviation on August 30 th  Hold addition storage from the anticipated runoff from Hurricane Isaac  Shelbyville ~ (+2.3)  Carlyle ~ (+2.0)

BUILDING STRONG ®Directives Lake Shelbyville Carlyle Lake Thebes, IL CHESTER, IL CAIRO, IL  Directive issued from our division office on October 17 th  Hold up to 10% of guide curve

BUILDING STRONG ® Reservoir Operations Thebes Carlyle Lake Lake Shelbyville Timely releases prevented less than 9 ft depth at Thebes

BUILDING STRONG ® Rock Removal  Remnants of the rock removal ► Grand Tower Reach (RM 78.9 to 80.0) ► Thebes Reach (RM 38.5 to 46.0) Rock Pinnacles Thebes Reach

BUILDING STRONG ® ? ? ? Questions ? ? ?