The amount of water being released from Garrison Dam is scheduled to be reduced today. According to a release from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office in Omaha, Neb., the amount of water being released from Lake Sakakawea through Garrison Dam will be reduced from 48,000 cubic feet per second to 45,000 cfs today.

The Corps also announced that a systematic decline in releases from other mainstem dams on the Missouri River are scheduled. The Corps says storage throughout the Missouri River system is declining faster than originally planned, including Lake Sakakawea. The amount of water in the system is about 0.3 million acre feet lower than what was projected in the Nov. 1 outlook.

Lake Sakakawea stood at 1,839.6 feet Tuesday with approximate inflow of 27,000 cfs and approximate outflow of 48,500 cfs. Above Lake Sakakawea, at Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana, Tuesday’s water level was 2,239.6 feet. Inflow there was 11,000 cfs with outflow at 15,700 cfs. Downstream from Lake Sakakawea, Lake Oahe was at 1,611.4 cfs Tuesday with inflow at 52,000 cfs and outflow at 64,600 cfs.

The base of the flood control and multiple use zone, which is the Corps’ annual goal to achieve by Feb. 1 every year, is 1,837.5 for Lake Sakakawea, 2,234 feet for Fort Peck and 1,607.5 feet for Lake Oahe. Based on current projections, the Corps says those levels should be reached in time to position the reservoirs to receive next spring’s snowmelt runoff.

Releases from Lake Sakakawea, which have been greater than what can pass through the electricity generating turbines of Garrison Dam and therefore meant utilizing spillway gates, are scheduled to be reduced incrementally the next few days until reaching 36,000 cfs this weekend. At that time the spillway gates will no longer be needed to accommodate outflow. Lake Sakakawea is projected to drop to 1,838.8 feet by Dec. 1 with releases at that time to be 24,000 cfs.

Water being released from Gavins Point in Nebraska, the furthermost downstream impoundment on the Missouri River system, remained at 80,000 cfs Tuesday but is projected to begin stairstepping down this weekend. The 80,000 cfs flows out of Gavins Point the past several weeks is considered very high and has added to flooding problems at downstream locations on the Missouri. Flows out of Gavins Point are expected to be lowered to 54,000 cfs in early December.

Although it is very early in the winter season, the Corps has begun its weekly tracking of mountain snowpack water content over the Missouri River drainage. To date the snowpack is tracking along the 30-year average. Missouri River Basin mountain snowpack normally peaks about April 15.